annecros

This probably belongs in a separate thread, but why all the vitriol towards Dominoes? I know, in NY you have hundreds of mom-and-pop pizza shops that probably produce better pizza (and hundreds more that produce worse!), but here in East Nowhere, Dominoes thin crust is the best stuff in town. Granted, it's a college town and most pizza places cater to the drunk frat boy crowd, but I actually like Dominoes thin crust pizza, and I'm not sure how I would improve it. ← Actually I have no vitriol towards Domino's, and in fact hubby is fond of the hand tossed. It could stand some improvement, although I am not sure how they can improve and also meet service deadlines that the store manager is bonused on.

Taboo. Too many social issues and implications. China's one child policy has resulted in a net population growth of "only" 12,000,000 per year - roughly the population of NYC. The birth rate still outstrips the death rate. I think Bittman is also indulging himself in a bit of navel gazing here. Buried as the last paragraph of his piece is this: Up at the top of the piece he is quoting global, rather than US, meat consumption statistics. So I went and found the UN's FAO report, "Livestocks Long Shadow" and read it. Table 2.4 on page 13 of 56, "Livestock and total dietary protein supply in 1980 and 2002," the geographic breakdown of growth in grams per person of livestock based dietary protein makes it abundantly clear that the population of developing Asia (China, India, Southeast Asia) has experienced a 130% increase per capita. Latin America and the Caribbean are the closest second increasing consumption by 30%. Industrialized countries (Europe and North America) have increased consumption by 10%. So what if every citizen of the United States of America decreased meat consumption by 20%? Hardly a blip on the radar. I think our ecological hubris may be getting out of hand. Other than possibly taking a leadership position, and hope that others will follow, I'm not sure we can effectively impact the global climate trends one way or another. In the meantime, right at our back door, Hatians are subsisting on dirt, literally.

It's my understanding that the jars have to be immersed as well. My small pressure cooker is marketed as a Pressure Cooker/Canner. Click for cooker/canner I pulled out my instruction book (yes, I am so anal that I keep instruction books on my pots and pans for years) and the only cautionary is to use USDA guidelines for canning low acid foods, and make sure the proper weights are on to create the desired pressure. If a pressure cooker is not steaming, wobbling the weight every few minutes, I would think you have a very dangerous situation and not enough liquid. I would worry about the seal in that situation.

The traditional Southern rural diet (as opposed to the modern one) is rather light on the meat. Beans peas, peanuts and rice, green leafy vegetables (even in the winter), lots of pork - but used as a seasoning rather than a main in many cases, the pig was cured in the Fall to overwinter the family. Collards and cornbread all Fall and Winter, the man of the house usually fishing the hock out of the pot. Spring and Summer the main meal was a huge plate of whatever vegetables were in and maybe a couple of slices of fried salt pork and some cornbread. Light on beef, especially in the Southeast. Heavy on the chicken, and seafood in coastal areas. Every farm had a kitchen garden. A lot of eggs and dairy. Game in the Fall and early Winter after the crops were in - but you don't eat as much if you have to hunt it, and it takes a lot of quail or dove to feed a family. I really love, and prefer usually, to eat like this now - but it must have been incredibly boring for the subsistence farmers and families that populated the area. Sunday was the heavy meat day. Chicken and Dumplings, sometimes a Ham if it was Easterish. Fried Chicken was a real luxury, and happened usually when the young roosters were being culled out of the coop. Of course, funerals and family reunions were no holds barred. I think I've read that the Mongolians shift from dairy in the Spring and Summer, to meat in the winter, but I think there are also cereals and grains like barley and wheat there. I would have to look it up again.

I'm curious about those lids. I think I saw them demonstrated on TV somewhere the other day. Did you get a chance to try them hands on? I have a variety of mismatched family heirloom sort of serving pieces, and it strikes me that it would save me a lot of grief around the holidays for storing leftovers.

No you have to use a pressure canner there is not enough acid in the stock to keep it safe .. ← That's what I wondered *sigh* My pressure cooker scares me ← I use a pressure cooker all the time for small batches. This past spring was my first foray into low acid canning. You just need to make sure that there is a rack in the bottom to keep the jars off the bottom of the pot. For stocks it will work very well. You need to have an idea of how much pressure (for example 10lbs or 15lbs) your pressure cooker processes at so that you can follow the safety instructions carefully. My Pressure Canner, which has a pressure gauge, is reserved for big batches because it is such a monster.

Oh boy, oh boy! Nine months after I started this topic, I have finally found a reputable source for bearing aged plants! Pine Island Nursery Pricey, but I can drive in and pick mine up this weekend and avoid the shipping. They are holding a big one for me. I will have miracle fruit! Catalog page

So Domino's now has a service that allows you to follow your order online within a 40 second tolerance: Click for press release From the press release: This begs several questions: How much "mystery" is there in waiting for a Pizza? Couldn't you bake a pizza, if you have time to track it online? There is an instant customer service button, where you can communicate directly with the store in question, and provide feedback. While there have been times when I would have loved to flame Domino's while I had six girls in the house for a sleepover, isn't this inviting a direct distraction for service flow on a busy Saturday Night? Finally: Food or entertainment?

Hey, thanks for taking one for the team! I do love that catcher on the pedi thing, but you are right - that microplane is not the one I use to zest citrus. ← Me either, but was trying to work a costing sort of comparison in there, and that was the cheapest MP in my arsenal.

Well, I didn't expect this - I really expected the Ped Egg to be useless in the kitchen. First, the people at TeleBrands say to never, ever do this at home, and the PedEgg should only be deployed for its intended use: So, I took my life in my hands and sliced a sacrificial lemon in half. Sixty strokes with the PedEgg: Sixty strokes with my MicroPlane: Results: Now, I know I am probably comparing Apples to Oranges, and I do know that MicroPlane makes a grater with smaller blades, but darn that ergonomic design! My hands are sometimes arthritic and the PedEgg was much less awkward on the curved edge of the fruit I was planing. That catch box is much neater. The metal in the PedEgg is of course, much flimsier, and may not hold up to harder stuff that I will be trying next. I'm not sure if the metal grate in the PedEgg is even food safe! Conclusion so far: If you were stuck on a desert Island with citrus trees and the only kitchen tool you have is a PedEgg, yes, you can utilize it as a zester! Seriously, you could have knocked me and hubby over with a feather.

Oh, I don't know, a quick search landed a lot of eG hits for vegetarian: Vegetarian Hits I think the meatless lifestyle is pretty well represented among the membership, and although I have seen negatives, I have seen positive posts as well. Answerbag says somewhere around 2 to 10% are vegetarian in the US, I have't found any worldwide figures. I eat meatless one or two days a week - not out of conscious effort, I just do. I think meat eating cultures arise out of what is available to eat. For example, for every vegan out there, there is probably a Mongolian that depends heavily upon animal products to stay nourished, and after a couple of centuries I am sure the population evolves to an animal product dependence. I'm speculating that birth control would probably be the only viable answer to environmental impact - but nobody wants to go there right now. It may just be a matter of time though.

Anne, can you expand on the basis for this statement? Thanks in advance. ← Sure, if you will be gracious enough to allow me to clarify my statement! Thanks in advance! I probably should have stated: Organic farms CAN BE a vector for disease and pests... Personally, I grow as organically as possible. The food just tastes better, and I am quite fond of the beneficials. Living in a frost free, humid climate, I have a wonderfully long growing season, but also a lot of disease and pests. I don't spray aggressively, and try to keep things at a minimum, but I do spray. Unfortunately, many backyard gardeners and even market growers that have good intentions of growing organic don't follow the National Organic Programs regulations, because they see no need to become certified. Click for NOP abstract From the site: Even some of those that are certified grow lax once they get the stamp. I could whine all day about whitefly and yellow leaf curl virus! But I garden as a hobby, and the impact on my garden is not nearly as dramatic as it is on the fields west of me that many people depend upon for their livelihood. I burn virused plants. They shouldn't even be sent to the dump. I could name other pests and disease, and any veg garden is a magnet for them, but you get the idea. I don't mind the pests taking their fair share, but when they take theirs and mine, I draw the line and murder them.

You should be fine as long as they are getting a minimum of six hours of direct sunlight. Note: Don't gauge the amount of sunlight this location is getting by this time of year. As the days lengthen and the sun sits higher on the horizon, you should be getting increasingly more sunlight until June. There is a pollination issue, as KarenDW pointed out. But, because tomatoes are self pollinated, it can be gotten around indoors relatively easily. A fan on them will help. Many growers, including those that grow outdoors, just thump the stems below the bloom cluster to shake the pollen loose. Others I know have purchased electric toothbrushes and used them to vibrate blooms to ensure more uniform fruits and better fruit set. Greenhouse tomato growers do this all the time. It's been my experience that temperature and humidity have more to do with pollination than insect activity, although I do have a healthy population of halcid (or sweat) bees in the area. Low humidity, night temps above 55 and day temps under 80 are optimal for fruitset. If you decide to give it a whirl, drop me a PM and I can hook you up with some seed of some heirloom varieties that are appropriate, or you could probably find a nursery in your area that will be happy to sell you plants. I think you are USDA Zone 7, so starting seed within the next month would be good timing, and tomato seeds are remarkably easy to start. Most of the heirlooms don't display the vigor and production of hybrid varieties, but I grow for taste, not for appearance. The Earth Box type design might be a bit messy indoors, because there is a water overflow. I like them because you load them up with the appropriate soil and nutrients, plant them, and then they are maintenance free for the season except for keeping an eye on the water level. I have always thought that in an urban setting Earth Boxes on a roof top would be ideal, but not practical or possible in all situations of course.

Growing organically requires cow or chicken manure, in some cases bone or blood meal. Depending upon your soil type. Compost sometimes doesn't cut it. In fact worm castings are a great fertilizer, where once again an animal converts vegetable material into something the plants can thrive on in order to feed us. Organic farms are also a vector for disease and pests that enter the food supply and could put a small farmer out of business in one season. Just my opinion. And just for balance.

This, from the article, just skeeves me out: Then there are dietary concerns like protein, zinc, iron, calcium, B-12 etc. that have to be compensated for - and can be with careful selection of vegetable matter. Then there are individual nutritional needs, I don't think we know and understand enough about dietary trace minerals as well. The argument that we wouldn't be as fat if we cut down on meat consumption flies in the face of the very real weight loss results that are evident with Atkins type diets. They work. I don't like the idea of throwing the body into Ketosis, but a ketogenic diet has been used to successfully treat epilepsy. I guess most of us could get by on less meat - but the solution to global warming? I'm skeptical. And, I am with Anna on this one:

In addition to the TopsyTurvy Planters andie mentioned, three are also self watering Earth Boxes out there for those who have no garden space. Many gardeners who are handy build them themselves out of Rubbermaid storage bins and some pvc. I have seen the Earth Box type with two 10 foot tall indeterminate tomato plants in them, bearing heavily. Many gardeners up north who can't plant in the ground use them to extend the growing season, placing them on casters so they can be wheeled in on cool nights. Here are some really impressive results. Now, if the city would just let me keep a cow, a pig and a few chickens around - I'd kiss WF goodbye!

The Eagle has landed. I already have a lemon - out tomorrow to shop for hard cheese and chocolate. Pictures to come. It came in a very discreet brown box - my mailperson will not know that I have scaly feet - or that I am planing food stuffs with a pedicure tool. It was made in China by the way - lest there be any doubt.

I make them from time to time. Dried mustard is a must (my Southern upbringing dictates that anything with cheddar requires a bit of dried mustard) but I often make cheese disks in the roll the log, refrigerate, slice and bake method.

I am in the same place hummingbirdkiss is - hunt, forage, grow. Surely there is a sunny window somewhere in Japan that would support some potted herbs. That is even less time consuming, and things like basil need cropping anyway to keep from bolting and going to seed. My passion is tomatoes - and have several growing in containers. The cost of seed is much less than fruit, and for the heirloom types I grow - you just can't buy them at WF. They don't exist there at the same vine ripened quality that you can get from home grown. What they do have in that area is prohibitively expensive. I won't do it. Quality meat - well I just bite the bullet. Although I still have friends in GA who will toss me some venison from time to time.

Have you ordered from Snake River Farms? I'm always a little leery of places that sell "American Kobe" beef, with no comparison at all to the true (Japanese) Kobe marbling scale. ← I ordered once and was pleased. It is my understanding that both Per Se and Craftsteak also have a relationship with Snake River. I think Snake River actually does use a modified Kobe marbling scale. Here's the dope. From the site:

Fantastic job Chris! There is also MySteak.com and Snake River Farms. Full disclosure: I have received monetary compensation from a third party to produce proposals for Buckhead Beef in the past. They own the web site mysteak.com

Good Grips are the bomb. Period. Let me know if you have any success with the drawer pulls. I will immediately get in line and demand.

Has anyone been to the Sundy House lately? It's been nearly two years, but I had a couple of very memorable dinners there.

Well, I ordered my two "Deluxe Ped Egg Platinum Pro's" this morning. I think the Platinum Pro thing is basically just a darker plastic, but they also said it had more surface blades - so we shall see. Anne's test kitchen will be open in 4 to 6 weeks!

German is very surprising to many here in Florida. We have a couple of tricks up our sleeve down here. Another cool place is Old Heidelberg. Glad you enjoyed your visit.