heidih

Port with livers - excellent choice. Liver has been calling to me so this goes on the option list. Thanks.

What Chinese cooking thread is that? This topic might give you some ideas.

FP - I come from a poppy seed laden pastry culture but not used much by my people in savory. I want to explore that. Did you toast them or otherwise alter them or just sprinkle over? Somewhere here there is a white poppy seed zucchini dish I need to find.

This was super fresh and soft. It smelled like sweet milk with a whiff of herbs (at least how I imagined unpasteuried fresh from the cow or sheep who grazed in the maquis would smell)- we had it for breakfast sprinkled with just a bit of "raw" sugar along with excellent bread

Oh Dave - you reminded me to kick myself in the rear once again for being a fool as a teen. Spent the summer in Corsica and never even tried the astounding cheeses that my friends were snarfing down with relish- wrapped in leaves, covered in herbs, smelling of the maquis.... I did eat the Brocciu every morning that the local guy sold door to door. At least I did not snub the fantastic charcuterie

Corn is also one of those "had the best, screw the rest". I grew some excellent corn in maybe 1997 and again in 2001. Currently do not have the proper location. But I did fall in love with the corn grown around the corner at the now unfortunately closed forever Ishibashi farm stand (see my eG blog here ) I may hit the larger farmers markets and give it a whirl but I think I won't get that intense corn taste that my memory is highlighting. So far it has all been that overly sweet soft stuff. Sweets- well coming from an Austrian-Hungarian bunch of immigrants and having "going to coffee" as the regular social ritual, I was exposed to some great stuff. I rarely bother to eat offered pastries and often they are one bite in and same bite back into the napkin. Baklava is one of my 3 or 4 Christmas offerings learned from mom via a Jordanian woman. When they bring out those big Costco platters of "baklava" I just cringe and mention being pre-diabetic.

I suggest a vintage ice crusher like the Ice-O-Mat (got this one at flea market for $10) Still have to make regular ice cubes or buy them but it is a great tool.

Well along the biochemical route have you read Deborah Madison's new book Vegetable Literacy. It talks about pairing vegetables in the same botanical family.

Did you guys just dig in and slurp out the greatness or was there some sort of sopping up of juices like bread or the like involved? Crab is my favorite.

Oops - I did not realize about the fresh water. Thank you for the info. Perhaps because I generally kept just a few days I did not experience problems.

As I get older I have come to realize that I am no longer willing or even able to bother eating things that are less than the best. Now, this is not with all foods, but I first noticed it a few years ago with stone fruit. I grew up with a productive backyard orchard that had a variety of plums, peaches, apricots and nectarines. We mostly ate them off the tree when dead ripe. Over time I never purchased much stone fruit and thought I just did not care for it though I had been an avid consumer from those trees. A few years ago I plucked a peach from a "wild" tree and was immediately transported back to my childhood; concentrated essence of peach. I tried the very good farmers markets locally and was left unimpressed. This year my feeble ancient peach managed to gift me with just a few beauties (normally the birds poke holes and mess with them when they are still green - and don't get me started on the scarab fruit beetles). At the same time my dad's plums were in a 20 year prolific & delicious cycle, and a neighbor crawled down a hillside into the canyon and presented me with 6 small nuggets of apricot heaven. Have you experienced this, and with what foods?

One of those days where I decided that I was going to "shop at home" rather than going out. Foraged dandelion greens from the "lawns" and clipped off some parsley seed heads, nasturtium flowers, oregano flowers, sorrel and various mints Had lemons from Dad in the fruit bowl. The result was a chickpea blend that incorporated all of the above along with some toasted walnut oil for smoothness. The shrimp enjoyed some of the lemon and mint, and the lumpy looking thing is cornbread made with the only corn meal I had - polenta. Dandelion greens and green onions in there. A lovely snack- going back for seconds.

I treat it like tofu - keep it in a sealed container with water and change water every couple days.

Quite a meal Kerry et al - would love more detail on the pork hock beignets as they look expertly fried; wondering about the sauce and was the filling just shredded tender juicy hock? Also what is the dark shredded stuff on the bangers and mash - thin crisp bacon or onion? Man....

Silkhat - you may want to jump over to this topic http://www.eatyourbooks.com/

Soba - you know how you keep getting echos of the same idea and then can't get it out of your head? - well your lobster salad dovetailed with this post I thought sounded lovely. Perhaps a lemony lobster and potato salad is in my very near future http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2013/05/lobster-and-potato-salad/

Lovely looking burger Chris. If you made the rolls yourself, can you give us a rough recipe? Also on the liquid smoke was that because you cooked them in the pan and opposed to on a grill?

I think that is the mucilaginous one. Like this http://www.ebay.com/itm/271180442452?hlp=false&var= (Malabar spinach) I usually use it in a soup or just saute with garlic

To expand on that you may want to check out this article from Modernist Cuisine on the Maillard reaction as well as the link to the caramelized carrot soup http://modernistcuisine.com/2013/03/the-maillard-reaction/

Shel_B - are you perhaps looking more for the type of caramelization that comes from a well roasted vegetable. Good carrots just rubbed with the smallest amount of nice oil and salt and roasted are simple and wonderful. I find that eliminating all oil yields a somewhat dry and chewy result.

Anne - the fish & chips looks perfectly fried. Can you elaborate on the sauce?

PV - I am a big fan of watercress soup but generally puree mine with the stick blender. Did you leave yours unblended?

Franci! you have to give us some details on the eggplant dish

I remember making this butterflied leg of lamb from Sunset magazine back when it was published. It was very well received.

2013: munchymom (2013): Livin La Vida Locavore: November 18 - 25, 2013 sobaaddict70 (2013): la-cuisine-du-marche: May 24 - June 1, 2013 Dave Hatfield (2013):a-food-adventure: October 13 - 19, 2013