suzilightning

tracey- address? easy to get to from morris county? thanks

i agree with katie's last post - she could get some reasonably priced italian sparklers that don't taste like mouthwash HOWEVER if her only choices are from the ones listed go with the chateau st.michelle over the marquis de la tour.

the one i would not get rid of (you may have noticed i'm paring my books down) is fields of greens by annie somerville. a great resource. i agree with others that some non-vegetarian books treat vegetables and fruits with respect. james paterson, of course. another i like is a fresh look at saucing food by deidre davis. she works with sauces but covers a wide range of vegetative matter. check out your local library or do an interlibrary loan and if you like it(and it is still in print) pick a copy up.

Ummm... Help me out here. I don't have a copy of the current copy of Saveur. I am having a scary vision of a corndog emerging from the waves. Tell me that this is not true. OH MY, MY OH, HELL YES though technically from a shell - as the pearl does - must be part of this year's stylings <evil >

oh, yeah - a sauce jones some good bread grilled and drizzled with olive oil would have worked here. tonight it is JUST TOO FREAKING HOT. made patricia well's uncooked tomato soup but will serve it with some greek yoghurt i picked up and a few basil leaves from the back porch. main course will be a salad of mixed greens and some grilled venison sausage i picked up the same place i got the yoghurt. the grill is outside . the local green grocer had some very nice fresh, perfectly ripe white figs. can't decide if i want to add them thinly sliced to the salad, poach them in some prosecco or maybe serve them with some killer blue i have as a cheese course. decisions, decisions i also had some cukes johnnybird brought back from potown his friend had grown so i thin sliced them and made a dressing of sherry vinegar and a neutral oil. that can go on the salad or be served after the soup but before the main. finally i did get some fresh, local sweet corn - nuke that puppy.

susan, susan, susan i think the heat and humidity finally got to you at least you enjoyed it right? go home and have a dope toasted dream frito pie and corndogs all around (fifi - check out the current saveur - in the datebook they show "venus rising from the sea" and yup - venus has been replaced by......) edited to say: it is so freakin hot/humid that i am planning what to make for dinner tomorrow- a cold tomato soup with some sort of salad and good county bread with cheese i think - we shall see

tim russert's dad called him up at 7am to wish him happy birthday and ask what he was having for his birthday dinner. growing up we could have whatever we wanted for our birthday dinner. my tastes evolved from lamb patties wrapped in bacon on the grill with yellow squash to lobster, fresh corn on the cob and a tomato salad with blue cheese and catalina dressing. sometimes it would be a visit to a special restaurant (one year it was my first and last visit to tgif; last year was lunch at an american grill and dinner at the warehouse grille for me). anyone else do something special - foodwise- for their special day? i'm still debating. i'll hit that magic mark when i get my aarp card. since johnnybird doesn't really cook...we will go out but where? i'm leaning toward a french restaurant where i can get duck for (almost) every course. (thought there was something about this in the archives but couldn't find it - sorry)

ok fifi this one's for you: http://www.corndogfestival.com/homepage.html BWWWWWAAAAAHHHHHHHHH

gg- i went but the young waitress didn't have dreadlocks. just brown hair. the service could be described as slow i guess but i wasn't in a great hurry. oh, yeah and the guy who was cooking had pants like fat guys - the chili pepper ones.

I don't know why either, but I do the same thing. I have some pappardelle right now, too, and I'm itching to make a sauce for it. Maybe tomorrow... tonight is homemade gravlax and dill sauce, followed by a grilled duck -- the duck prepared how, besides grilled, and what served with it, we're not sure yet. susan - i've got a quart of bologenese frozen if you want it. loved your pictures. i want those turkey burgers but johnnybird (who replaced my trusty weber with a gas grill when it died) doesn't want any food that is "burned". hello - they are grill marks!!!! he thinks it will give him cancer. he will freaking die of stress before he gets cancer carry on with the grilling

nullomundo- they are wonderful and herby and i have 6 plants growing in pots outside on my porch along with tarragon, oregano, flat leaf parsley, cress, and basil. you could do it easily. the leaves are wonderful as well worked between the skin and flesh of a roasted chicken that has been salt and peppered inside and out then stuffed with lemon pieces and garlic.

why, on a warm and muggy day do i get a taste for bolognese? about another hour and the sauce will be done so for dinner we will have that with some whole wheat pasta. a chopped salad of cucumbers from one of johnnybird's friends garden and probably a nice cold beer!

this will probably be gross but... while up in the upper islands of lake champlain my breakfasts have been black forest ham and swiss cheese with miracle whip on cheap white toast - sorry guys i guess there is more of a tt steak in me than i ever believed course i use fresh jersey tomatoes and some cool local lettuces to complete the sarnie....

Yeah yeah heard it all before suzi Cheers Tom Edited to add: Was it a Thursday night suzi?? I warned you about Thursday nights at Francesca's. Damn Kiwanis it was a freaking TUESDAY tom, my sweet i work a 1-9 shift thursday night - and i don't go anywhere near a kiwanis( i remember your warning)

only if your in-laws are friends with the owner and you don't mind a) slow service and b) noise. went there last week before we went on vaca and once again i wasn't seated until my husband was there. there appeared to be some sort of party/function that tied up most of the wait staff. i do not feel that 45 minuted to give an order and get your main course is good timing. we were hungry and did not order an appetizer or primi did get bread after about ten minutes of being seated and the drink order being taken. don' t know what function there may have been but there was a lot of upward noise from the lower level of the restaurant. it did make talking with johnnybird difficult - i felt i had to shout. nanyun, welcome. what kind of cuisines and/ or food (i do love hot dogs and bbq) do you want to search for? edited to take some of the StInG out - love you tom

suzanne don't de husk and de silk your corn if you are going to zap it take two ears (ok - maybe 3) at a time a zap fully cloaked for 2 minutes per ear. let rest for two minutes total and you are able to stip away all the husk and silk in one motion and the corn is perfectly cooked and warm. did a dozen jersey ears this way this weekend

just back from our third sibling excursion to north hero island, vt with johnnybird's sister and one of his brothers. julie, john and i stay in a small motel; larry stays with friends. their idea of fun is to go fishing, swimming, riding around in powerboats and begin drinking at 1100 am(not julie, though - she likes sunning herself). my idea of fun is to explore the local area so this year i dropped husband and sil off and went around north hero, south hero and grand isle. there is a winery in south hero which does produce some wonderful products. will post on the wine forum about them. but there is a dearth of good, affordable food. i asked at the local chamber of commerce and was directed to a place called Margo's. in an old house kitty corner from A&B supermarket - the largest one in the isles and across from a place that serves burgers and hot dogs - IF YOU ARE IN THE NORTH ISLANDS OR BURLINGTON DO NOT MISS THIS PLACE. did i make my point? in a place where burgers, questionable pizza(sorry i have lived in new jersey too long) and subs are the usual fare(salad? macaroni, potato or coleslaw). this is a place that DESERVES to be supported. they are open mid may through mid october - full time only during the tourist months (july and august) but serving breakfast and lunch the rest of the time. i had worked my way from antique shop to antique shop till i was in south hero at the local winery. a stop at the local chocolate shop for prezzies for work and to squirrel away for holidays/birthdays behnd me i wanted lunch. a lady at the local chamer of commerce suggested this place. not much parking and just a sign outside but when you walk in it is sheer heaven. there is a pastry case and a place to place your order. a room to the right hold several tables but i preferred to sit at one of the two tables in the main room. a cold case to the right holds many of the prepared product that will go into the wraps or quesadillas and there is cold box for drinks. i ordered a veggie quesadilla that had spicy black beans, roasted corn and a chipotle sour cream with avacado. how do you describe crispy perfection? the smoothness of the beans the toastyness of the corn and the spice of the chipotle sour cream enclosed in a crispy warm tortilla was heaven on earth. it was served with a side of mescalun salad with grape tomatoes, chopped yellow and red peppers and cucumber with a raspberry vinaigrette. i could have eaten two of them. but i did something i rarely do - ordered dessert. if for nothing else go to margo's PLEASE and support a pastry artist. the key lime pie was sold out. there were only 3 slices of the strawberry rhubarb pie, somthing else was sold out but there were full portions of operas and a german chocolate cake(that my server told me was better than the operas - i believe her but i detest coconut) and most of a blueberry cheesecake. there were three other cookie type things that were sold out but, since it was thursday, i expected this and figured there would be an orgy of baking that night and friday morning. i asked for a piece of the strawberry rhubarb pie. now i love this pie but johnnybird doesn't and i can't eat a whole one by myself - a piece every now and then is fine - so...... OH MY GOD. the crust was a pate sucre but perhaps made with brown sugar and whole wheat flour. it was baked in a tart pan. the filling was minced rhubarb cooked with flour till all the flour tase was gone and mixed with minced strawberries. i have no idea how margo created the twisted pastry lattice on the top but i wish i had had the foresight to ask for the rest of the freaking pie to go...... NOOOOOOOOO instead i tried the opera which was a lovey piece of pastry - almond cake with a topping then a ganache. though i suspected it before margo's confirmed for me that i am a pie girrrrllll. orgasmic. if you are in the north country please, please, please support this effort that this woman does in catering, patries and breakfasts. though i didn't get to sample the breakfast , perhaps i can get johnnybird up earlier one day next year and take the car so i can try her eggs barbaria and has browns with sausage and fresh squeezed orange juice.

not at all- i eat right to left on my corn course i also read all magazines/newspapers back to front too

Yeah, well, we KNOW I'm a freak -- 'cuz I like my corn NAKED! No salt, no butter -- just the sweet 'lil kernals all on their own, row-by-row...

for general cookbooks i have: joy new york times cookbook the all new fannie farmer boston cooking school cookbook in paperback- 2 copies of this one since i took the original to college with me and it now begins on page 5 and ends of page 642. the second copy has been hard bound for durability the old fashioned cookbook by jan mcbride carlton - one of the best beginner cookbooks i have seen anywhere the joslin diabetes gourmet cookbook - i use this especially for the protein sections two specialty cookbooks i own are: a fresh look at saucing foods by deidre davis - gives you a master sauce, variations of the sauce, a basic recipe and other uses for the sauce. i love to just pick this one up and read it when i just want to shake it up seafood recipes from local waters by Jacqueline Pell Tuttle. this one was my mom's written by a friend and coworker. i still refer to it and, while there are those recipes with the cream of whatever soup in them there are some unique and original recipes such as scallop aspic canapes, crabmeat and bacon balls and flounder fillets in shrimp wine sauce. just my $.02

just finished making the main course for tonight - trial stew. ground buffalo, carrots, potatoes, green and yellow beans, onions, garlic, beef stock, leftover white corn off the cob. if it meets johnnybird's approval i'll freeze it in quart bags that he can take with him when he goes hiking in the catskills next weekend. one bag for breakfast and one for lunch. arugula salad with pepper, croutons and goat cheese - trying to use up the perishables before we leave for vt on tuesday OH!! OH!! whoever mentioned the bbt - THANK YOU made one for johnnybird for lunch and he loved it(course i used turkey bacon) and threw a piece of cheddar on it. he loved it later a cooking lesson for the birdy - blueberry breakfast cake featuring toast dope

(the other) susan - love ipa but watch out for the kick. i prefer my beers more hoppy than johnnybird does so WHEN he actually brews he does one batch for me and one batch for him. he is the stout and porter lover, i am the lager and ale lover. almost as bad as the fact i am a red sox fan and he is *SHUDDER* i can't even voice the name of THAT TEAM. tonight was shrimp marinated in a mix of garlic, ginger, low sodium soy, tamari, rice wine vinegar and sesame oil. shrimps were sauteed, removed from pan and the marinade was reduced with some red wine vinagrette. served over local arugula with creamy german potato salad (potatoes, turkey bacon, dressing of dijon mustard, mayo, apple cider vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper and some olive oil) with fresh white corn - can you tell johnnybird is on a carb binge? washed down with a cloudy bay sauvignon blanc. what i REALLY wanted was to capture the bunnies one of our neighbors refuse to pen. they are all over the neighborhood and tonight one of the other neighbors was hand feeding them carrots. that's right .... aromatics..

reservations? in an air conditioned restaurant this happens to me. temps over a certain level and high humidity and it kills my appetite. i'll quickly cook shrimps and make a remoulade sauce then over baby greens. the tomatoes are coming in now so blt's with cheese and gazpacho. many times i will cook early in the morning when i first get up - 6am or so. chicken to pull apart for chicken waldorf or curried chicken salad. i have a recipe for poached tuna that i can serve nicoise or chunk up with elbow macaroni and mayo or flaked into a pita. course i'm always happy to grill up a burger or steak

i make this with both green and wax beans but make my own "mushroom soup" with lactose free milk, shitake, crimini and oyster mushrooms and baby white onions. i DO use the french's fried onion rings to top. this was one of the recipes from a food 911 show * sigh * tyler florence is soooooo yummy i also cook the beans and add them to my german potato salad or mix them with grape tomatoes cut in half, shallots and a red wine vinaigrette

a pint of healthy choice fudge and caramel ice cream....for breakfast