Jon Savage

Dashi is certainly an example of something that requires little effort to make but is so very much better than the instant stuff.

I'm pretty sure you could make your own dashi since both bonito and kelp are kosher IIRC. --edit I can't find a kosher source for the bonito flakes, one recipe suggested using the skin from smoked whitefish instead. Smoked cod would be a good addition to a kosher fish chowder I think

May I suggest a martini?

Thanks Jons ! Surely you don't want me to give away all my cliffhangers yet, do you ? I can wait! I've been pretty happy using farmfreshtoyou.com as it offers more flexibility than traditional CSAs which is important since my wife is often away for a month or so at a time and I can scale back the deliveries to every other week or whatever other frequency suits. The Farmers markets here in Long Beach are certainly a nice benefit to have. I work downtown so the Friday market is one I go to most often. Are you going to explore some of the Cambodian markets on Anaheim this week? Intresting factoid- Long Beach has a huge Cambodian community, sorta like Little Saigon is to the Vietnamese enclave which is just South of here.

Excellent foodblog so far Roberta thanks! Which CSA are you using?

Gosh i thought it was just me. I'v stopped buying bagged onions, the % of bad ones was ofsetting any money I'd been saving.

I was just going to say the same. Every year when we spend a week of three in Italy eggs are right at the top of the grocery list. They taste so much better than anything I've been able to get here in SoCal and I wonder why? It is not as if I had any expectation of them being better, just bought some eggs to make breakfast a few years ago and was blown away by their color & flavor. Now the humble Italian supermarket egg is something that I very much look forward to every year.

Ugly pic as promised It was remarkably easy to make and I'm confident that the pasta will look prettier with more practice. I'd probably make a slightly softer dough than usual next time, this was 1 c flour, 1 egg and a few drops of water. I served it with a quick sauce of DOP Gorgonzola, a little sweet butter, dash of pasta water & black pepper. I sent the method to my wife aboard the RV Melville- They've got flour and downtime .

The thing with yelp and Zagat is there are many clueless people confidently posting their opinions. On example in point was a beer place that just opened nearby that has a pretty spectacular selection of well kept and served draft beers. I think it was averaging am scant 2 stars on yelp. The complaints? 1. The beer(lambic)was sour and tasted funnny (that is how they are supposed to taste??) 3. The pours of Belgian doubles, triples etc. were too small (you don't drink this stuff by the pint??) 4. many of the beers were served in odd shaped e.g. non pint glasses (you mean there are different shaped glasses for different kinds of beer??) ...I could go on and on but suffice to say this place is doing all the right things and serving some spectaular beers very well indeed. Without really reading those reviews I might never have gone there at all based on the rating.

I'll try Chris- All I have is my Iphone since our good camera is off doing science stuff in (on really) the Antarctic sea with my spouse. The upside is I have plenty of time to perfect this (and other methods) in the month until she returns.

I'm going to try making the fusilli calabrese tonight. There is a pretty good description of the method here on Rosetta Costantino's site. To paraphrase it- once you've made pasta dough and it has rested 30 minutes take a small piece of it and make a snake about 3/8 thick, cut these into 3" lengths then use a knitting needle or piece of coathanger to form the pasta as shown in her video upthread.

10-20% smoked malt is best in my experience with brewing. Anything more overwhelms the resulting beer. Ymmv.

I generally cook straight from the hip depending on my mood and what ingredients catch my eye at the market and also what I have on hand at home. I do use recipes when cooking "classic" dishes. Recipes are also particularly useful when confronted with an unfamiliar ingredient in my CSA box.

For me it is the French Dip either from Cole's or Philippe's; both in L.A. they both also claim to have invented the french dip sandwich. I like them both but have a slight preference for Cole's because the bar there is lovingly restored and evokes 1030's Los Angeles to me.

Oh also Balkan Sobranie a long defunct pipe tobacco. It was the laphroig of its ilk.

OK you got me- off the rocks on Catalina Island and grilled with butter on the beach Yep! And it was cheap too if you had to buy it. Best enjoyed with some Mateus Rose- another blast from the past mentioned upthread.

Don't forget Abalone- man I used to love the wild harvested stuff. Not that there is any left around these parts alas.

The TJ's house brand diced salt free orhanic tomatoes are great. Their organic italian pasta is also excellent.

Maintaining an edge is a whole lot easier than establishing one. Typically I hit the knives we use most with a 6000 grit water stone once a week (earlier if needed though that happens rarely). That takes less than 5 minutes per knife. Once a year or so I'll take each knife through the full progression of stones I use (1k, 4k, 6K). Assuming I have not been neglecting maintenance that process takes only 15 minutes or so per knife. I don't ever use a steel on our Japanese knives- they are too hard to benefit from it and just get torn up if steeled. One could use a *smooth* steel on these knives to true the edge there are also borosilicate glass rods that are suitable. Grooved Euro style rods though are death to these knives. I only use my coarse (500) water stone if I need to repair damage, address a severely neglected knife (usually a friend or family member's knife), and of course to set initial bevels that suit me rather than a manufacturer's whim. I also tend to focus on high performance edges- there is a trade-off there since the more acute the edge the more fragile it becomes (in relative terms). Starting from scratch on a new knife or addressing one that has been allowed to become dull tends to take 30+ minutes so the minimal investment of regular maintenance touch ups is well worth it. So... What's your knife maintenance strategy? --edit I prefer freehand sharpening so that is what I am referencing here from my experience but please do share other methods

That was way over the top. As noted risotto texture varies quite a bit in Italy from almost soupy to a far firmer texture that is quite a bit like Tre's version from this episode. Overgarnished perhaps yes but Isabella's pasta was a far greater transgression IMHO.

Knife work.Mise en place generally. Oh also sharpening knives.

80gish dry pasta per serving in our household. I generally make the whole bag (500g), depending on how it was sauced and whether we are having a protein course we are left with 4-5 portions for lunches, or whatever (there are 2 of us).

Good episode. Dale picking Marcel to captain the other team was a masterstroke as was his picking of Fabio for FOTH. Marcel? He needs to grow up, lose the foam & develop some interpersonal skills. Glad to see him go. I'm guessing the final 4 will be from the winning team of this challenge. Carla has come a long way too. Fabio will either crash and burn or shine. I need to eat at his place (near me) sometime. Tre is ever so solid. Barring stupidity he too is a force to be reckoned with. Blais? If he keeps on like this I think he'll be in the final Dale just needs to keep his temper under control- he's talented no doubt (everyone on the show is). I'm really enjoying this season so far. Surprised since the last 2 seasons had just about put me off it altogether.

#2 is the recommended speed on mine as well. anything less than a 3-4 pound batch in a 6 qt bowl seems to work less well as bud noted.

Pretty much what everyone else said- Proteins that will be grilled, roasted or sauteed get a good sprinkle whilst coming to room temparature prior to cooking. If the protein is going to be braised or stewed just a little salt prior to browning it. Sauces, soups anything that involves reduction- near the end of the process, less seems to be more. We probably go through 1 box of kosher salt a year most of it ends up in pasta (or potato or blanching) water. Finishing salt on raw veg especially- a little maldon salt on veg is sublime.