gfron1

Yes, dry makes most sense, but frozen wouldn't be unreasonable. I don't know how all of that rules stand on produce or dry ice on a plane.

I won't claim expertise but Hatch is just down the road from me. To answer your questions as best I can. Green is pretty much done although you'll still find them for another month before we switch back to Aneheims. Red are already with every street corner ristra dealer. Dried reds are now til they run out - I can usually buy bushel bags through early April. Like any produce refigeration will be good for greens but not necessary. Air circulation is probably more important. And a pack of dry ice and some pre-packed frozen roasted might be your best option. Fresh will last maybe 3 weeks but start to wilt a bit after a week or so. As far as freezing fresh there's another thread going on. I have a different approach so I'm not in full agreement, but others say that you can freeze them just fine. 4. Is there any reason why I might prefer frozen, dried or canned green chilies? I presume that there is an invariable drop-off in quality from fresh to preserved, but I am interested in the views of those who regularly use green chilies in New Mexico cooking. (I can get canned green chilies in Italy.) >>The big question. Canned sucks. Frozen isn't too bad under the circumstances. Getting enough fresh back to Italy to make it worth your time seems daunting.

I can't imagine cymbidiums growing here, at least not in my part of the state. We're at 6,000' and in the high desert. Flowers only come on cactus in these parts.

That was from our May shoot and its cattails. If I remember right the day ended with stinging nettle, watercress, monkey flower and a bit of early currant.

Today we had another photoshoot. Went very smoothly. I learned that the images weren't obvious to anyone but myself, so fortunately we are storing all images and text in DropBox for shared access among the team, so I had to go in and rename everything to make it obvious to the designer so he could use them. My other thought today is man oh man I wish I had been keeping written recipes longer. I mostly cook by instinct, and now I just feel like there's not enough recipes. I wonder if anyone ever says, "I have plenty," and it turns out to be true. So tomorrow I'm going to dig back through old pics and online reviews to jog my memory. Its a downside to cooking based on what you find in the wilderness...changes constantly. Also, awaiting my first round of edits from our editor - she has 1/3 of the book in her hands right now. The longer she takes the more nervous I get. Here's a B Roll pic

Thanks guys. I think I'll have one tray that won't release but the others should be fine then...now if I can get my shelling viscosity to thin down a bit! Its a 36 hour battle at this point.

Another for Mae Ploy but no one mentioned Maesri. I'm not sure I would know the difference between the two - that said, I don't use them very often.

I have a back to basics question on my first day of the new chocolate season. At the eG choco workshop in Vegas we were told that cocoa butter should be held at 30-32º and room at 20º. I've always had my cocoa butter in a non-digital dehydrator, and have never really checked the temp - with mostly good success. Today I checked and I was up at 45º! I went ahead since I was just doing trial runs today and had some pooling or beading of the cocoa butter on the mold. I assume this was because I had it too hot. So the basic question...can I just back the temp down to 32º or do I have to do more steps that than that to get it back in temper? Thanks.

Most important - Content and theme 3rd most impot - Images Least important - Book size and handling 4th most import - Visuals (colours, typography, that kind of thing) 2nd most import - How the text is displayed on the page

I did ask and he definitely did not know the variety.

I don't know. He may already know, but I'm in the middle of too many things, and he's in the middle of harvesting and prepping for the fair, so we haven't really had time to talk. I'll see if I can't message him.

A friend of mine owns a very large ranch, and last year he discovered a cave on the property. Inside were a variety of old Indian pots, one of which contained beans. He turned the pots over to the university but kept 10 beans, which he planted this year. 4 of them grew and he sent me this pic just yesterday.

I'm really excited to share some page samples with you my friends here. My designer came up with a cover art design that I love, and I'll be submitting my completed text for the first of three sections in just a bit. I am a bit concerned about recipe quantity. I originally wanted 75-100 recipes, but I'm now looking far short of that because so many recipes are recipes within recipes. My biggest problem is that for the past 6-7 years I've not recorded what I've done - I cook by season and by forage, so there was no documentation going on. Wish I had handled that differently

I did see that. I disagree with his opinion on photos but his other two points were great reminders. Our book will have lots of photos because images are part of telling the story and I just happen to have an amazing photographer.

Hi David - welcome. I used to own a gourmet/international grocery which he since evolved into a restaurant, but 7 great years with a well stocked home pantry!

In case you're not up for a research perspective here's a snip from an article on the Golden Ratio: The calculations applied here are supposed to satisfy what is known as the golden ratio, the ratio whereby the relation of the greater part to the sum of the two parts equals that of the two parts. To have the most aesthetically pleasing curry, then, the supposition is that the rice must be approximately 1.61 times wider than the circle of curry that is laid on top ((√5 + 1)/2, to be exact). Of course, here one needs to grant Dr Hadley the right to extend the concept of the golden ratio, usually meant to apply to rectangles and ellipses, to the relation between the radiuses of two circles. It is also not meant to explain the aesthetics of three dimensional objects, and apply to the height of objects, like here. This is where I say, "Shut up and eat!"

For the more academic of the group, you might want to check out one of my favorite website that happens to have a number of articles on plating right now.

I've been appreciating the support though the CKtG forum the past few days. Great info.

Yeah that weight balance thing is probably not measurable unless the knife is in your hand. I always though Globals were weighted well until I got my Fujiwara. But most of us don't have access to a store with great knives.

You know what I want? The process of picking a knife is overwhelming, so I want a website, like travel sites, that you put in your preferred items, and they search the internet for the options and best pricing. The problem right now is if you don't know all of the manufacturers and terminology then you're out of luck, or some sites will say white #1 while others will say the Japanese term for the same steel. I'm not going to do that site, but my descriptors would be: Handle shape Handle material Style (with a diagram of what that style is) Blade material (with a quick pop-up of characteristics of that material) Length Manufacturing process (handmade, stamped, etc) What else am I missing? The point is that someone could take a 10% commission if they could help make the connection happen.

I've bought from Bernal Cutlery in SF and Japanese Knife Imports in Beverly Hills. Both are great but I am looking for something new. I like hand forged, high quality knives. My most recent was a Fujiwara 210 white #1 which has changed my kitchen forever - such an amazing knife. But I'm on the hunt again...suggestions?

I think we're probably close to being on the same page. What I hate is that chefs copy instead of finding their own voice. That asymmetrical plating was cool when it was first rolling out what maybe 4 or 5 years ago (I'm sure we could argue earlier) by very artistically driven chefs, and I liked it because, as was stated, it was a nice use of white space. But, now there are chefs who are not creating art, who are copying the style, and its not appropriate, nor their own. It is my big beef when chefs can't find their own voice. (edited to delete a tirade)

I've made cured yolk but they always flatten, not round like in the mooncakes, and I didn't think to buy them when I was in the big city yesterday.

I bought a box of 4 from Kim Hung Bakery in LA yesterday - shipped to an Asian store in Tucson. $44. They were not like others I've had but I liked them - almost like a Christmas pudding or mincemeat filling...and salted yolk. How do you make the yolk? Because I was traveling today I'll be making mine tomorrow.

Acorns have become one of my areas of expertise and they're on the menu nightly. First, emory and grey oaks produce acorns that need little or no treatment to make them edible. The batch I pulled two weeks ago (which will get me through most of the year) were perfect as is - no tannin-ness at all. That is definitely a result of variety but I think also varies somewhat based on rain or aridity. On a whim two years ago I decided to try not leaching. Instead I shelled, dehydrated, rough ground, dehydrated, and fine ground. I've done this method ever since. A few months ago I told that story to a group of arborologists (?) from the University of Arizona and we hypothesized that my technique works because the compound that holds the tannin is water soluble. Therefore, leaching or dehydrating would reduce or eliminate the compound. Interesting considering that we think of nuts as fatty/oily. On a related note for the OP - the dialogue we have in this part of the country is how the youth on the reservations don't honor the techniques of the old generation. Specifically, they ram the back of their truck into the tree to knock the nuts off and into their pickup bed - the lazy way versus hand picking, and the way that damages the trees.