Dante

Not q-u-i-t-e the same thing but the local food co-op has free wine and beer tastings about every week or so. Frequently more than one tasting at a time. I have, purely by accident, mind you, caught a light buzz while shopping before... Sincerely, Dante

you said: A church cookbook that has a Jello salad recipe that calls for canned cherry pie filling, lemon Jello, a can of canned pineapple bits and (yes, this is true), a can of drained, sliced green olives with pimento stuffing. Wow... that's, like 1950's-era style, what with the canned pineapple and olives... Sincerely, Dante

You don't give any hint as to your location. no, I didn't. Sorry. New Hampshire. Here in Calif. Smart & Final carries the complete line of Torani syrups as well as Coke syrup in the cartons as mentioned above. 'kay. After all the links and such everyone else has so kindly provided me with, cola's the only one left on my list. There are other suppliers who sell to small mom and pop businesses and have the syrups used for snow cones in gallong jugs. Google snow cone supplies, shave ice supplies, Hawaiian shave ice supplies, etc., for your area. thanks ftor the tip. shall do. Sincerely, Dante

Here you go: <snip link> My favorite brand as they're made with real fruit and sugar. an added bonus... You can look around the site for diet versions as well. kewl! Thanx very much! Sincerely, Dante

Most soda syrup is sold in 5 gallon bag-in-a-box. You should be able to buy those from any restaurant supply such as GFS. yeah- I had thought that that was the route I needed to take. I don't know that I'd use enough to justify a 5 gallon bag, tho, so I'd wondered if more managable sources existed. However, you can make soda pop using soda flavorings, dextrin, and carbonated water. Both the flavorings (3 oz bottles) and the dextrin are available at beer home brewing shops. Hmmmm...there's a thought, and the local health-food store does carry brewing supplies. Edit to add this link: [url=http://www.leeners.com/sodapop.html]http://www.leeners.com/sodapop.html Hmm...interesting. Thanx! Couple of the local brew-pubs also make their own root-beers... Sincerely, Dante

What Tracey said. I often see these in liquor stores, high-end groceries and, of all places, TJ Maxx and the like. yeah- that I can do for Italian and/or French soda, and that's useful for me. Thank you and thanx to Tracey too! but... When I was a kid, you could buy Coca-Cola syrup at the drug store as a remedy for stomach ailments. Maybe you still can? this was more what I was looking for. We have a real old-style drug store (that is to say, not yeet absorbed by Eckerd or Rite-aid) in one of the neighboring towns, so I may check there. good tip- thanx! ETA: depending on where you are, there might be an independent bottler who makes private-label soft drinks. They'd be more approachable than one of the huge mass-market bottlers. yeah- and we've got a couple of those up here too. "Micro Sodas" they call themselves. Sincerely, Dante

Thanks so much Do you know what goes into Ras al Hanout? Anybody? no definitve blend exists. I cobbled mine together from a variety of sources, but I use a mix of black, white, red and green peppercorns, cinnamon, clove, dried rose petals, allspice, nutmeg and my personal curry blend (powdered ginger, cumin, coriander, fennel seed, fenugreek, cardamom and turmeric) there's also baharat- another blend from northern Africa with varying ingredients- I use allspice, cinnamon, clove, cumin, cayenne, black pepper, coriander, cardamom, paprika, allspice and nutmeg. Essentially a peppery curry blend. Sincerely, Dante

Thanks! I know the term, but I always forget the actual ingredients of a creol trinity. it's really just a morepoix with bell peppers in place of carrots. and, yet, oddly, some "Creole" places outside of N'awlins still don't seem to get it correctly... Sincerely, Dante

Packaged foods that promote health and make health benefit claims. Like more Dannon Activia's. Viola! You become healthy by buying certain products. people, of course, tend to forget that such products tend to only contain trace elements of the health-promoting additives that they advertise. (like they tend to forget that vitamins are added to products like fruit juices because by the time they reach the customer, the natural content has largely faded away or settled out). Sincerely, Dante

Dante, yes? [speaking of cheese & beer together] and i was just thinking that when composing my last post... [ that was one of the most popular panels at the recent ACS conference. (Gee, I wonder why???) Here is a link to a good article about it in the Boston Globe last week:] excellent! Thank you for sharing this! I was just talking with the guy who runs the cheese section of the co-op about the ACS conference. I picked up the Vermond Shepherd Cheese that won an award, [The guy who ran the panel thinks that beers are much more cheese-friendly than wine] and interewting idea, and one I've really not thought consciously of, tho I've naturally served the two together in the past- I don't limit myself to jsut the classic cheese/wine pairing model. And let us not forget Burlington's home to Magic Hat Brewery (which is also a fun place to visit, I might add, and they carry some special brews there that you can't get elsewhere). (we have so many good microbrews up here, and brew-pubs too) hmm...yeah- the Bonne Bouche was a recent discovery of mine (first encountered it at flavours of the Valley in May), it completely impressed me. Yeah- anything by Cobb Hill's quite lovely too.The Bayley Hazen Blue and Brother Lauren I'll confess to not being extremely familiar with. I'll have to work more consciously on beer/cheese pairings on my own... [You also mention "any decent soft goat cheese"] actually, I did not personally, I was quoting from the lady I was replying to, but, anyway... [For fresh goat logs, I think most are not too interesting, but the one made by Tournevent (they also make the Chevre Noir) is called Biquet and is the best I've ever tasted] That one I've not sampled. The co-op gets Chevre Noir, so if they don't stock the Tournevent I can get them to special order it. Sincerely, Dante

Does anyone out there know of a source for soda syrup (as in that which is mixed with selzer for soda fountains) for the private individual, as opposed to souces for professional restaurants? Sincerely, Dante

My top ten favourite food movies: <snip list> and excellent selection! I've seen and enjoyed every one of those (I'm a bit of a movie buff in addition to being a foodie) has anyone mentioned the dinner scene on the train in "Jeanne D'arc of Mongolia"? An amazing mix of elegance and over-the-top excess. The waiters singing a requiem while bringing out the roasted sawn in full plumage was what really got me. Also the waiter's remembering everything after taking an order that took about three or four minutes to recite, even when he was pretending to not pay attention to all of it- that was fun. has anyone besides me seen (or, for that matter, even heard about) that movie? I also feel the need to mention the movie "Waiting", if only because I believe I've worked with clones of about all of the cast at some point or another. Sincerely, Dante

Well, the one noteworthy one that springs to mind is the Creole Trinity- similar to a mirepoix, but composed of onion, celery and bell pepper. I'll think on it and see if I can conjure any more- menu-planning done- gotta hit the co-op for ingredients now. Their Producer's Fair is today. Sincerely, Dante

Hey that's what the quote in my signature refers to! yes yes yes!!! and, oddly enough, I believe I just replied to another of your posts elsewhere... I love cheese, and as I've realized with beer, the more I focus on "rating" or taking notes, the more I pay attention to all the little details and complexities. interesting. I can see that. If you're in the area and haven't been to the public market, you're nuts! I'll have to make a note of that if I find myself in the vicinity Yesterday, I had some cypress midnight moon (goat) at Spuyten Duyvil in Williamsburg; very tasty! They always have cheese and meat that you can munch on with your beer, and they're all dee-lish. Other cheeses outside of the usual suspects I've really enjoyed include (but are not limited to): - aged goudas - I think I favor Prima Donna, but maybe it's Rembrandt I must confess that I've never explored goudas all that thoroughly. The local food co-op stocks a good selection of them. - sage derby - some are better than others in my experience, so tend towards a certain...mealiness? - bel chimay with beer - made by Belgian Trappist monks, they wash the rind of the cheese with their own beer; the beer is also tasty, btw Hm...never trieed that one... - manchego I admit I use this one more for cooking them by itself, tho I did recently sample a pretty decent one. - mimollette irish vintage cheddar both lovely. when I was last in New Orleans (November), I found a sheep's-milk Cashel Blue. most excellent. - brillat savarin - it's like buttah! i used to like st. andre's when it was first introduced in this area (and when it was the first triple-creme cheese I had eaten), but I've found that it's never ripe when it's in the store now except sometimes in the mini-wheels, and those mini-wheels are bad news (at least for soft cheese).. so i stopped buying it. however... who can beat a cheese named after a french gastronome? indeed. That one, with Monte Enebro, Le Chevre Noir, Forme d' Ambert and a Vermont cheese simply called Abbey make up the regular offerings on the cheese board at the Canoe Club in Hanover, New Hampshire (with Red Hen Bakery bread, a pices of honey comb and fig-almond tart). i can go there, just order that and feel perfectly happy. pretty much any decent soft goat cheese you must seek out Lazy Lady cheeses, then, if you haven't already had the experience. Blue Ledge Farm of Leicester, Vermont, too. and there's a not-half-bad local Camembert by Blythdale Farm too. Mmmmmm... cheese! ::sighs:: right there with ya! Sincerely, Dante

I don't know that I'd put raw milk into a baby's bottle, but for otherwise healthy adults I simply don't see the issue. The Weston A Price Foundation (http://www.westonaprice.org/ ), which always has a booth at the annual Flavors of the Valley food show up in Vermont has much to say on the benefits of raw milk. I mean, when we get into our cars every morning or go on a ski vacation we don't agonize over the risk of getting killed. Put a glass of raw milk or a hunk of Camembert in front of us, though, and we start screaming bloody murder, even though proportionally far more people die in car accidents or in ski mishaps every year than from drinking raw milk or eating unaged, unpasteurized cheese. you've got a point there. of course, cheese, being an safer target than, say, driving, is much easier to persecute. Jeffrey Steingarten has a good (and highly entertaining) piece on raw milk cheeses in "It Must Have Been Something I Ate". Sincerely, Dante

Illegal and raw milk gets *complicated*. It's usually not flat out illegal to sell raw milk in a state. It's more the inspections and compliance rules are set up so that it's inconvenient enough that it might as well be illegal. This is not good for encouraging compliance with the law, since raw milk really is better for some purposes (like cheese!). over here in New Hampshire, we can get raw milk cheeses with no problem, or at least I can find them plainly labeled at the local food co-op where I do all of my shopping. This is not a particularly good thing for adults in search of tasty cheese. On the other hand, it's a good thing for babies and children, since they're pretty vulnerable to a wide range of milk borne pathogens. On the gripping hand, the restrictions are a patchwork of laws (different in each state), and getting them changed to something saner is hard work. agreed. Vermont seems to have more than its share of over-regulation when it comes to food (last Summer, as an act of protest, a restaurant did a special pizza using chicken from down the road from them- http://www.ruralvermont.org/archives/002761.html ), but, because VT has a rep as a "dairy state", cheese seems to go largely unmolested. Sincerely, Dante

Putting everything in a McDonald's wrapper. Bob Blumer's probably done that... :laugh: In all seriousness.. so because i couldn't think, i decided to do a little research on the interwebs. This was the first thing i found talking about 2007... splendid! Thank you. Just the sort of thing I wanted to see! I checked this out and the links from that page to a couple of related topics. Most informative. I'll admit that I didn't see much that I didn't already know about but that in and of itself serves as a validation. (OK- on the A to Z linked off of that, seeing bacon listed did surprise me, as did gelato) * Hamburgers and hot dogs go haute -- More chefs tackle these favorites, from Thomas Keller and Joe Bastianich (Mario Batali's partner) to Rachael Ray, who is rumored to be planning her own burger joint. <laughs> I've maintained for years that *anything* can become "gourmet" with the correct approach. Oddly enough, my most-requested dish is a tuna casserole. I see highlight number 2 as really just an extension of the artisanal/gourmet food movement that's been growing for the last few decades, so I don't think I can call it a "trend'. agreed. perhaps more an established movement that just gets more refined with time? The gourmet movement seems to be gaining momentum lately, especially with movements like the slow food movement becoming more visible to the general public. something that I find delightful. The Localvore and Slow Food movements have been picking up steam up here in New Hampshire and Vermont over the past couple of years. I must confess that I bristled a bit when I found the one bit off of one of the links calling a movement away from fresh/seasonal ingredients a "return to flavour" or something along those lines. Perhaps the author doesn't have very good stuff around where s/he lives? I'm still trying to figure out some things, but there are all sorts of reasons I see for the gourmet thing.. I'm not going to go into them right now because that's a whole other story, but I could if people wanted to hear it. please do! I, for one, would be interested. Also, I couldn't read that Miami Herald piece, nor could I. Wouldn't even turn up on a Google search...most frustrating. but I feel like I've seen a growing popularity of bottled iced teas, especially lower sugar varieties from Honest Tea and Ito En. and Tazo and the like. VTea has produced a most-interesting reishi mushroom tea (with maple syrup and lemon). A "Mycobrew", as they like to call it. The drop in sugar in some of these might be a result of the (somewhat ineffective) "health food" thing that's always around, and I see other brands like Nestle and Liptons trying to make new lines which just seem to attempt to cash in on that "gourmet" trend these teas also fit in, in the same way that Budweiser Select tries to compete with more conventional (microbrewery-produced) craft beers. and yet the big companies like that never do seem to get it correct when they try. Sad, really. Sincerely, Dante

This thread reminds me of that BBC series, Chef. One episode, Chef Gareth Blackstock was in search of illegal, unpasteurized Stilton cheese. "Gone off milk and bugs, living in perfect harmony" yes yes yes!!! I've been questing for unpasteurized Stilton ever since I first saw that one... Sincerely, Dante (who considers Gareth Blackstock one of his personal heroes)

So, I feel the need to ask what-all would you folks consider the top culinary trends of 2007? Not that I consider following trends in and of themselves as all that important, nor do I consider myself a “trendy” sort, but I just found myself feeling somewhat curious as to where people see the art and industry going now. Sincerely, Dante

Looking for other cheese lovers to talk cheese and compare tasting notes, sourcing and transcendental cheese experiences. I could talk forever here, but I'll be brief for now as I have to start dinner... couple of things off the top of my head: Lazy Lady Farms in Vermont does some of the best cheese in the area in my experience- mostly goats milk, some cows-milk or blends. She has a couple dozen regular offerings plus the occasional small-batch limited runs (with hand-written labels, no less!). A Must Seek Out if you haven't had the experience. Cobb Hill, also in VT (run off of a commune) comes in a close second- really good caerphilly. St James Cheese Shop in New Orleans- which just opened last year- an astounding assortment of cheeses and charcuterie. and there's one up here from Blue Ledge Farm called "Lake's Edge", which is a sort of local Humboldt Fog. Highly Recommended. our local food co-op here in New Hampshire has recently started getting in some very interesting stuff from Quebec. But ever since seeing that one episode of the Britcom "Chef", I've been seeking, but not finding, unpasteurized Stilton. Rumours spoke of Neal's Yard working on something of the sort, but I've still not turned any up. Sincerely, Dante

I watched the ABNR crossover on Monday, mainly for Mr. Bourdain's presence. I found it interesting, and admit that I was intrigued by the tarantula (I've eaten grasshoppers, and ants too, and liked them. Never tarantulas, maggots or cockroaches). I can't say I found it bad, or offensive in and of itself, but I can't say it's something I want to keep watching (I only watch two TV shows at all on a regular basis, and usually watch them on On Demand) . "Bizarre Foods" just didn't grab me. But, yeah, the Egyptian restaurant was kewl. I really liked that part, and loved how they blended the close of BF with the opening of ABNR. and it was intersting to see the NYC's Chinatown still looks essentially the same as it did when I was last there in '84 (tho I didn't see any tentacled things on rotisseries in any of the windows). Sincerely, Dante

153 I'm only eight (or nine) books away from having every cookbook that I want. actually, if you subtract books that are about food but not primarily cookbooks (tho they may contain recipes), 141. Sincerely, Dante

A "morphing" is basically their way of saying petit fours. ah- so perhaps I had simply overthought it... Since they have the menu designed with the snacks first, which are usually savory, and they are just little things to be eaten before the tapas/plates. Then come the pre-desserts and desserts, and then they finish with morphings. Well since they were very similar to the snacks, only sweet, then they thought the word morphing fit well since it "morphs" from savory to sweet towards the end of the meal. So it is basically just petit fours after the desserts. Gotcha- so it's essentially mirroring the beginning, then. Interesting rationale for the name. I like it. Thanx so much for the elucidation. Sincerely, Dante

gabe, do you have any idea how they are made? yeah- I would second that- v. curious. Sincerely, Dante

Hello, new member here although I have been a long time browser. Hi! Newer member and also long-time browser here... thank you for the report and such- most interesting But I have one small question, and a rather embarrasing one at that... I've never really "got" the morphings thing...essentially what "makes" a morphing (tho I admit I may be overthinking it). Anyone out there care to provide me with a short "morphings for dummies"? Sincerely, Dante