Kouign Aman

Yes. Close! It was bright orange (mango juice).

dockhl, I'd love to have the recipe. Thank you! I know I have a good one somewhere (I made once previously), but the where is turning out to be a problem. I'm hoping to get this done this upcoming weekend. Got the cherries, found the lamb, gotta stock up on rice. I'm ok at making that crusty rice on the bottom. I know its a treat (my ex-boss told us how long he practiced, to make it as well as his family's cook did), but I myself dont much care for it. And since I finally got the tenor to show me how to download pix from the camera and size as needed, I might even be able to show it off if it turns out pretty.

Oh well, I did accomplish one of my 2006 goals tonight.....

One perfectly fried egg.... The munchkin asked for green eggs and ham for dinner tonight. Since we didnt have ham, she settled for salami, but decreed it must be red instead. Food dye is a blessing and a curse. Her father and I delayed our dinner for obvious reasons.

Summer's comin! What varieties are you hoping to find locally?

.... Region, eh?

Heard bad things recently from several sources, about service at French Market Grille. For the next person planning to hang out in the Escondido area, try Fat Ivor's in Valley Center, for beef ribs. Yeah verily on Vincent's Sirino's. Mucho gusto.

Yes, fresh and crisp and green, as a rather substantial garnish. Lovely.

I'm thinking that paying for the coffee was showing it as much respect as is possible.

Toliver, are you sure you used only the highest grade sundried tomatoes?

Nope. Unless the recipe specified a grade of fish, and indicated never to use frozen, not fair. I have to look up the name of the cookbook I'm thinking of, but it called for a nice bechamel based sauce, over a decent seafood mixture, on toast. Fortunately, I'd learned about pre-reading and editting recipes (the hard way) long ago. Because as written, one is to make the toast & set it aside before beginning sauce preparation. That is an excellent way to produce shoe soles, but its (sic) tough on toast. In fact, although every recipe I've made from the book has been tasty, its been due to their ingredients, and my rearranging the step order for most of them. As written, they are doomed.

Rachel, oh my. Last week we had dinner that included pea tendrils - the wind-aroundy bits, and a few tender leaves, gently piled on the main course. They were delicious. I havent eaten garden-fresh peas since I was 5, visiting England, and my 6-year old aunt took me thru her father's garden on a clandestine raid. You do have a way with stirring up memories from the bottom of the pot. If you are ever California-ward, perhaps you can come by for a meal, and the munchkin can learn about faeries from an expert.

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Menus - how far in advance can a cuisine based on 'whats good and fresh today' be planned? I'm thinking a weeks about it.

Carolyn, the post was meant to acknowledge having learnt from you, not to argue with you. I am correct as to why the mints are not boxed. I had assumed the reason was same for ginger. You posted a reason for ginger that trumped my assumption. Rest easy.

That would do it.

Fabulous! I could eat that every day for breakfast. Recipe, please? Or I shall be forced to fake it, as soon as I find the red stems in the store.

Point was the slow service might have been due to the novelty of the particular fastfood joint in town. When the godawful krispiecremes opened here, lines around the block. I can only attribute novelty, because those things suck. I didnt notice the plethora of options in my short stay some 15 years back. 'course, its changed. Noticed the old navy housing is gone, too. Tho, revisiting the first post, it might have been the interesting angle of the facility that drew such crowds the day you went.

I want to hear more about that!

El Agave - straight teq rather than margaritas. Nice report.

I gotta remember this thread about next October. Roger's Gardens - I never thought of them as a source for veg plants. Thanks for the heads up.

Overall, what's the success rate of calling the day of? (estimated, obviously)

Reverse that order for me. According to my favorite marzipan afficianado, See's dark chocolate marzipan is second only to the now closed Elk Chocolates in NYC. I think its got a lovely texture, good strong almond flavor and isnt too sweet. Good stuff! I love the dark chocolate ginger. Its not all that sweet, its delightfully strong and gingery. I always thought it was not in the box because it might share too much of itself with other flavors. The 'sharing' is why the mint flavors are not included in any of the prepackaged assortments. Butterscotch squares. Yum. When I lived in Miami, a pound of See's was the price of being picked up at the airport for my visitors.I used to save my babysitting money to buy See's. My best friend and I split the cost of our first hand-selected pound of See's: cost us $1.40 each. We got two of each flavor, taking turns choosing til the box was full. We waited til the store was empty for we knew it would be a slow and deliberate process. The sales lady was very patient with us. We knew it was greedy not to share with others, but we hid that box from all the world, and we savoured every nibble of each chocolate. She loved the apricot bonbons (covered with orange fondant), and that's when I met my first dark chocolate raspberry-filled. It took about 90 minutes of babysitting to pay for a one-pound box then, and it takes about the same today, 3 decades later.

That sounds like a grand club. Does anyone know of one like it? We just joined Jewel Wineries club, as our first foray into this kind of wine acquisition. We've gotten two shipments so far, and are sadly lagging on consumption. (Course, we also stocked up at the little wine shop down the road and are even further behind on those... but summer's a comin' soon.) I asked on another forum (a wine industry board) - what's the benefit to the winery - why offer clubs? Here, I am wondering - why did you join? What is the benefit to you? For us, its the chance to try some wines we might not have, otherwise.