Starwind

How very sad I am to hear of Bill's passing. It seemed I'd barely gotten to know Bill, via another list which we both were on... Moab seemed much closer since reading some of Bill's exchanges, and I loved the photographic tour of his home we'd all been able to take in the recent past. Reading about Bill's love of food, and life, was one of the small gifts I received via the internet. I shall miss his humor and those stories told with gusto. May he always live in the minds and hearts of those whom he touched. Starwind

Last night: Flying Dog's Road Dog, lately my "regular" beer of choice. Over the weekend: Fat Dog Oatmeal Stout with wonderful chocolately notes and Steelhead Stout, some great coffee flavors. Miller Lite is the cheap beer in this household -- good for chugging down, icy cold, after coming in from a sweat-inducing hour weeding in the garden or washing the truck. Of late, though, I've determined that rather than add those flavorless empty calories to my waistline on a daily basis I'll skip the nightly cold one with the news, and save my beer calories for the good stuff, mainly on weekends.

While the USDA's organic guidelines may not be enough for organic "purists" and, also, while Wal-Mart is certainly not my shopping mega-mart of choice, I will welcome the addition of organic foods to the big W's product line. To my mind, anything that will help nudge the people of our country into demanding better-quality, naturally-produced foodstuffs has to be a big plus. Perhaps the next emphasis will be to elminate the genetically-modified and a movement toward the "slow food" trend popular in some areas.

'Til you're outta there, keep us posted on the shell count...

Like many others here, I hope to pass on a love of cooking; a desire to experiment in the kitchen, the idea that by tasting a variety of flavor combinations you learn what works and what doesn't so as to help foster further experimentation aimed toward the creation of delicious items for the table.

This is a _tough_ topic -- I'm finding it difficult to nail down a couple specifics. However, the first that came to mind was an incredible dinner at "Alice's" on the end of the wharf at Old Orchard Beach, Maine. This was a lotta years ago -- in '83 or thereabouts -- but they did serve a to-die-for lobster feast. The lobster bisque was served with pieces of lobster hanging over the rim of the bowl, and the lobster main course was presented beautifully and was the freshest, most delectible I've had, before or since. I've no idea if Alice's is still there, as the visit took place while on vacation. While traveling in Arizona and New Mexico in 1979 I determined I needed to find the best chiles relenos and ate them for dinner each night. (Whew, I'm not too boring, eh?) While I enjoyed some wonderful versions of this Mexican classic, most notably in Old Town, Albuquerque, I don't believe I ever had them better than I did at a place called Guadalajara's in Roch., NY -- a place that has since gone out of business. Unfortunately, I've never had the opportunity to visit some of the highly-reputed and well-known restaurants in cities such as New York, Paris, etc.

Thank you for posting such a detailed report of your first three days, it was an enjoyable and interesting read. I'll be looking forward to reading about how you are improving your knife skills - an area in which I feel I am weak as well. I hope you find yourself enjoying the classes. Starwind