Carolyn Tillie

Thus spake the horse's mouth... Thanks, Tony - it is always a thrill to get the inside scoop...

It just plain hurts my little 'ole brain...

You win - hands down. Condolences on your kitty, too...

After I graduated with my MFA, I thought I would prepare a stupendous feast for those six or eight people that went above and beyond the call of duty in helping me out (one built all the pedestals for my art exhibit The Magickal Tools of the Kabbalah, another practically financed the installation, some pre-purchased the artworks, etc... I planned a classic Beef Wellington, complete with pâté de foie gras (not the Americanized mushroom stuffing). Seared scallops with frizzled leeks and white truffles were the starter. There was a very elegant Austrian dessert of apricot jam-stuffed crepes baked in a custard. Lovely wines and expensive champagnes were ordered to be served. And I got an allergy attack to end all allergy attacks. I woke up sneezing maniacally and it didn't stop. By the time dinner was served, my nose was bleeding from the rawness of so many tissues. I couldn't taste a thing. I was perfectly miserable and although everyone assured me that it all tasted wonderful (and I had to keep reassuring them that I was NOT contagious), the meal was a disaster for me. All I wanted to do was take enough meds to knock me out (which I did after the dishes were done). I was fine the next day. Pisser.

Can you explain what "budded over" means? Are the actual vines removed and new ones put in? Or is a grafting thing? An excellent and informative blog with fabulous pictures! I am looking forward to the rest of the year. Thank you for taking the time to do this. Thank you, Toliver! Great question! "Budded over" is a grafting thing. If a winery is not pleased with the quality of its grape, without having to entirely rip up a good base, a new varietal can be grafted on to existing rootstock. At Gundlanch Bundschu, for example, they were unhappy with some Gamay grapes and budded them over with Pinot Noir. No new stock had to be purchased because the base (or "clone" as it is known in the industry) was sufficient. When a vine gets hit with a disease or is not a satisfactory-enough stock, it might be ripped out and re-planted with new stock. When the Stotesberys purchased the Woltner estate, they ripped out the Burgundian-style Chardonnay that existed in the vineyards and re-planted with a variety of different stocks for their Cabernet because phylloxera was evident throughout the vineyards (and much of the Napa valley, actually). For all intents-and-purpose, there are three grades of stock available to a winery (and these are all grown and nurtured by professional, industry nurseries, BTW - never by a winery themselves that I know of...): Benchgraft, Rootstock, and Greengrower. A Greengrower stock is planted and budded over by the nursery and sold to the winery when there is actual green sprouts appearing out of the plant. Rootstock is the same as Greengrower, however they are sold to the wineries before they sprout. Benchgraft is a form of rootstock that is planted and then grafted (or "budded over") in the field. edited for spelling

Gabriel calls them clusters -- he looked at the picture and said there should be four clusters forming (which there might be which we can't tell from the angle I took the shot). I'm pretty amazed at how much those little sprouts grew in one week -- we assumed the cool weather would slow it down, but it has been surprisingly bright and moderately warm in the afternoons (still cool and sometimes foggy in the mornings). The next three months are when we worry most about frost. Gabriel has a frost sensor that rings an alarm by his bedside that will wake him up in the middle night if the temperature gets too low. He and a few of the others will get up in the middle of the night to start the fans to keep the plants from freezing. So far this season, he has had three frost days - last year there were 20 of them. The less frost warnings, the better.

A lot has happened in a week! Look at our stupendous growth! We have grapes!!! Okay, they are really, really little - but they are certainly there!

AFTER you've had the knife re-ground and have a fresh tip with which to do the job, obviously.

Welcome, Bill! Even though you are dumping your California wines, please PM me if you decide to ever visit the Napa valley. <as a newbie, PM means Personal Message - a form of Internal e-mail> We hope you enjoy or stay here at the Gullet and stick around for a while! Cheers!

Here's a link to one... Fat Free Angel Food Cake. I don't think that a fruit puree would work - there is a chemistry that occurs in the mixing in of the sugar with the egg whites. A fruit puree (I believe) would produce something more along the lines of a souffle.

Angel food cake is not all that hard -- and is one of my favorite cakes that I often make when I am left with leftover egg whites. I like unadorned - just a hunk-o-cake in my hand makes me happy. The difficulty comes in not having properly whipped eggwhites and assuring your cake pan and mixing bowls are absolutely clean and free from grease. Fat is death to an Angel Food cake. I don't have a specific recipe on hand, but just a few notes on techniques. From a Joan Ross website: There is absolutely no reason why you can't make the cake a day ahead of time and travel with it. If you intend to decorate it, do so after you arrive. It is a very stable cake that could easily be just wrapped in plastic wrap for transport. If you want a Lemon Ginger cake, I might consider adding freshly grated lemon rind to the batter (perhaps the slightest amount of extract for stronger lemon flavor) and then glaze it with a ginger-based glaze. In prefering my Angel Food cakes unadorned, when they are topped, I prefer a light glaze versus a heavy frosting. Report back and let us know if there are any questions!

Porkpa, think about it for a sec... You were at TGIFridays for criminy-sake! I doubt the same response would have been heard at - oh... someplace like The French Laundry or some swanky NY joint (sorry, I can't think of the name of one now). Okay, that was two different extremes. But you get the picture. A place like TGIF, where there are huge crowds and a need for fast turnaround would necessitate a server utilizing such a schtick for economy of their time in needing to service possibly ten or twelve other tables simulatenously. I certainly would, if I had to work in such an establishment.

I'm a fanatical Recchiuti fan, especially loving their Tarragon Grapefruit concoction. I find their confections elegant and interesting. Therein lies the difference for -- Scharffenberger is amazing chocolate, but it is just that and nothing more. Recchiuti is a confection which is a totally different artform a cut above just chocolate. Other confections that I admire (and crave) include XO Truffles and the newly-opened (four whole days now!), Woodhouse confections in St. Helena (near Model bakery). Today I brought home their Thai Ginger, Spiced Pecan, and a few others I have yet to taste... Woodhouse doesn't have the interesting flavor combinations that I admire in Recchiuti. Woodhouse is more into stunning decorate shapes (the Thai Ginger is an Oriental fan).

Unsure if these Pocket Coffees are the same thing - but they are readily available in America at most Cost Plus Imports. I eat them often and have not found them to be seasonal at all...

Kinda like you... except that I'll start with one wine that will work with the olives, cheese, and etc... Sometimes open another wine with dinner, but then finish off with a sweet wine for dessert. That DOES leave for a lot of open bottles!

Not only can I not find Coffee Time in California, I can't find ANY of the others! That is why I have friends bring it to me when they travel... This is *Napa* after all... something as lovely as Coffee Milk is way too bourgeois these snobs.

You are right - I threw a name in while Tryksa was writing. Ram it is...

Starbucks like a cancer grows... I've got it! They are going to partner with The Oxygen Bar - Sushi & Sake Bar! They are going to make you BREATHE it in through your pores....

Do they sing? I thought there was supposed to be singing. Maybe they could sing about how good the food is... It funny how food is mentioned in love terms in movies -- My gulab Jamun and my jalebi is quite common yes?? That's it! There is a very special Love Song that is sung over the sharing of Gulab Jamun. (Something about them being "little balls of love...")

Okay, her name is Sundranamba. His name is Narandran. And I've got it! She has an EVIL TWIN, named Ammini. Ammini dresses up and tries to seduce Narandran with the samosas - but he KNOWS they don't taste right and he begins to know there is *something going on*! How are we doing?

In this morning's Forbes The basics: and on a scarier note:

After Sweet Lady Jane's, why look elsewhere? Their cakes are downright magical. (yeah, yeah, I KNOW they are expensive...)

He is played by Aamir Khan. On the way, he meets the most beautiful woman in the world, played by Aishwarya Rai She, of course, has a MAGICAL tandoor and an ancient family recipe for samosas that instantly causes Him to fall in love with Her. Everything coming out of the tandoor melts hatred in anyone's heart that consumes her food. But there has to be an antagonist... someone trying to steal her recipe or her tandoor? Someone she is already betrothed to?

Okay all you pie-crust dweebs - have I ever got news for you! On June 18th the ever-so-fabulous eGullet Culinary Institute will be having its first pie-crust class! Mark your calendars! Get your rolling pins ready! You will be taught!

Ahem... isn't this White in Summer and Red in the Winter philosophy Fence Sitting?