Katie Meadow

By way of thanks and a follow up....we just returned from a great trip to Provence and thanks to this thread I was thrilled to see Salade de Museau in a small and very sweet little charcuterie in the town of Goult. We bought it along with a slab of pate de campagne and both were excellent. The salad was as described, thinly sliced with a delicious bold dressing. Great picnic material. Saw it again, looking beautiful, in an amazing charcuterie in Aix-en-Provence. That place was hopping, and we waited (w/no other English speaking tourists) on line for almost a half hour to buy our picnic supplies. I looked for eels but never saw any cevettes on the menus. I saw some eels at the Aix market and more in Venice (live ones there) but not little ones.

When making a big pot of soup or stew I adore my Le Creuset. It's big enough for soup but not for stock, since I like to make a max amount of stock in order to freeze some. So when I make stock I use a really large high-sided stainless steel pot that can accomodate a whole chicken, extra feet and various types of bones, etc. It seems to me that the weight of a 20+qt. LC (or even a 15!) would be prohibitive with stock in it. I haven't noticed any substantial difference in the quality of stock made in a light-weight stainless pot vs enameled cast iron. I saute bones, if I'm using them, in basic cast iron and then transfer them to the stock pot. I would have thought that a simmer is a simmer, and all the great attributes of cast iron aren't really crucial to making a stock. I'm curious...can anyone testify to a difference? Am I making crock stock without a proper stock crock?

If some dried spices should be aged beyond being totally dry, that's news to me. If I open the jar and don't smell a nice strong pleasing aroma, or if the color is dry and dusty, out it goes. I buy the tiniest amounts of spices that I can, unless it's something I use all the time. I don't use ground ginger very often, so that's one that often has to get replaced. Making gingerbread with anything but fresh spicey ground ginger seems like a waste of time and energy. Just before Thanksgiving every year I notice my dry sage is hopeless and I have to buy more. I believe I use dry sage once a year, exactly. I haven't paid close attention, but I am guessing some dry spices last longer than others. In my experience cinnamon seems to have a long shelf-life, but maybe heavy-users disagree? I also think that when spices like paprika and cayenne get brown or dull in color the flavor gets dull or bitter as well. My guide is to trust my senses. Yeah, in a pinch I'll use a pinch, but then it goes on the shopping list. If I am buying in bulk and am forced to purchase twice as much as I actually want I give the extra to my neighbor who also cooks a lot so she can restock her supply with fresh.

It's been several years since I was in Zihuat. I happened on Casa Que Canta by accident and poked around uninvited. Those beatiful walls, the wooden stick showers, the stacking salt-water pools...if money was no object I would stay there! Fun town! The best food I had in Zihuat was on the beaches--Las Gatas, La Ropa, and on the far side of a little island you reach by boat from Ixtapa where the snorkling was great and there were almost no other people. Worth the trip there even if you have to pass by the golf courses of Ixtapa. That local bus ride is an eye-opener. Even the town beach had some good mojo de ajo shrimp, if I am remembering right. Every time we ordered grilled fish it was perfect; really fresh, crispy skinned, succulent. On the main drag in town there was also a wonderful bakery where we picked up the next day's breakfast--cornitos (the horn shaped ones--sp?) to have with black tea liberally sweetened with the requisite condensed milk. Just right!

I love Hamlyn's Pinhead steel cut oats from Scotland. They seem to cook a bit faster than McCanns...perhaps the cut is finer? The cooking instructions on the can are completely bizarre, so I don't follow them; the oats would be practically raw in the time they allow. My way: for 2 portions bring to a boil 3 cups water with a pinch of salt, add 2/3 c oats and turn down to a modest heat. Simmer 20-25 minutes or to taste, stirring well toward the end. I find 20 minutes is good, then I turn off the flame, cover and let sit a few more minutes. Of course I'm attached to the can, too, with the Hay clan tartan and the somewhat off-kilter (sorry!) implication that there's a relationship between the Hay clan and this oatmeal, without saying what exactly it is, other than the name of Hay. I like it with butter, maple syrup and/or sometimes molasses, a splash of cold half & half and maybe peaches or berries. It never crossed my mind to look for steel cut oats at TJ's, but I will definitely try that, since yes, imported canned oats are pricey.

I am 100% sure that my husband, who is a risk taker (big and small), will vote for trying it with my REI bottle. Note that's MY bottle. I predict we will try going through with two bottles.

So I went to the TSA website and carefully searched every list of permitted and prohibited item. Nowhere is "water bottle" mentioned, only that 3oz of liquid in any given container is allowed. So I called them. Here is what they said: if you don't find it on any of our lists it is up to the discretion of the security personnel working the shift. On a whim they can decide whether or not to confiscate your bottle, be it hard, soft, big or small, w/3oz or empty. The person I spoke with confirmed that water bottles are up for grabs. That's the official rule! As you would expect there are huge numbers of irate and often very funny rants on a variety of sites about this practice. An empty Sippy-Cup was confiscated from a two-year-old. A woman was required to drink her own expressed breast milk so she could keep the bottle, etc. Some airport personnel are more cranky than others, and some airports have reputations for being more lax. Sea-Tac is known for confiscating all kinds of stuff. JFK is easier. Sounds like a crap-shoot and I could easily end up having to replace my perfect bottle. I'm thinkin' about it. It'll cost me a trip to REI, the cost of the bottle AND four dollars for a cheesy bottle of stale tapwater purchased after security. But I will be wide awake. The TSA website is kind of amusing. They tell you in detail all about the 1 Qt bag that you can fill with little 3 oz bottles, but that you must take it OUT of your carry on and put it in the basket. Then they tell you to remember: the more "allowed items" you bring, the more you hold up the line and make life miserable for everyone else. Thanks for that! Let's make sure to blame our fellow passengers before we even get on the plane.

Thanks to all... perhaps I will try to wrap bread separately and figure out how to take small toss-away containers of PB etc. I don't usually think to take chocolate, but maybe some nice bitter stuff will help my mood? Those Gourmet on the Go as per the NYT sound good--maybe I'll see if they have made it to the West Coast yet. Wattacetti: re water, you are not allowed through security with more than 3 oz of it, but I had no problem a few months ago taking an empty plastic bottle through. I put in a few oz of tap/fountain water as soon as I was through security. Then I filled it with more during the flight. This time I plan to take my favorite rei hi-tech plastic bottle so I can have it on my whole trip.

There's almost nothing I want to eat on a plane, and I'm cheap. Even when the flight is long enough to get served a meal, I end up giving practically all my food to my husband. Rarely do I want to spend the money on the plastic-housed salads or the airport restaurants. I am very happy with PB and Marmalade on good bread that I can make the morning of and dole out to myself as desired, but next week I will be overnight in a hotel before my first flight and then in one airport or another for about 20 hours. The sandwich thing seems improbable, given it would have to sit in foil for so long. I would eat a 12 hour old sandwich, but that would only get me through breakfast, with 18 hours to go! So....one idea is some nice hard cheese that travels well, crackers, some apples. Almonds or other nuts. I'm not too keen on dried fruit. I take energy bars, but more out of desperation; I imagine I will want them if the plane makes an unscheduled stop on the side of a mountain. When I fly I am basically low-level queasy the whole time and prefer things that are not too greasy or salty. I don't have a sweet tooth. Anyone have suggestions for good travel food? Are there any little tins of tasty healthy stuff people like? Filling, healthy, not too messy or complicated, easy to do in small portions, you get the idea: I'm a terrible flier AND a fussy eater!

I'm only posting because your post was lonely, I saw it by accident, and I'm surprised no one else chimed in to sing the praises of these crackers. They are indeed fabulous. I don't buy any other crackers anymore. My favorite, and my staple is the Original. My next favorite is the Fennel--very subtle. Even the whole wheat was really good. I prefer them to baguette for any cheese that isn't super runny. I too love them for Middle Eastern or Greek type spreads like babaganoush or lentil meze. Totally yummy with a rustic pate! And yes, they are expensive. But count yourself lucky; I've never seen them under $5.99 a pack here in CA.

Tiny baby eels. ← I'm almost afraid to ask...how would they be prepared/served, live or cooked? It's all about what you're used to, no? If it sits there quietly on the half-shell I'm the first in line. If it wiggles, I'll meet you in the parking lot. If it looks like a loaf I'll slice it, but if it looks like a nose on spode, give me the car keys.

Civelles are really delicious (and very expensive too) but I think the garlic dressing does most of the job. ←

There's info on the web, so check it out. From what little I gleaned, Maine is where whelk farming is underway. Supposedly Whelk is sold in Boston and New York markets, but I am not sure whether these critters are bi-catch, harvested or if the farming thing is a going concern yet. Were you in Brittany? Sounds like the main whelk beds in France are on the Brittany coast. I will be in Provence and the Cote D'azur and Venice in a couple of weeks; now that I know they are called bulot, I will take notice if any are lurking about on the south coast.

Yes, geoducks do live on the northern CA coast. Did you used to catch them? And did you use them for chowder? For those unfamiliar with this clam, they are very hard to catch, so they are not marketed regularly. They bury themselves quite deep in the sand, and you have to be very fast to grab hold of the long neck before they retract it. The necks can grow to be up to a yard long and a geoduck is considered to have reached old age at about 140 years! Where we stay on the north side of Tomales Bay early morning clamming trips (you gotta take a short boat ride) are advertised sometimes during low tides. I believe that locals who manage to catch them do use the necks for chowder. I've been offered locally caught eel (fabulous), but never geoduck, and I might hesitate to eat it, since I've been looking at the same giant geoduck clam pickled in a jar in the entryway of the general store for at least the last 20 years. That one must have been 200 years old if it was a day.

From a quick visit to easily accessible websites, especially those designed by people in Rhode Island, the hard-shell clams we are talking about are all members of the same species, Mercenaria mercenaria, unbelievable as that may be. You guessed it, the nomenclature supposedly derives from the original value of the shells in trade. The names of various clams are simply a shorthand guide to size: little necks being the smallest, then topnecks, then cherrystones, and finally the biggest, quahogs. On the chowder/chowdah cook-off thread there is a good photo of a quahog sitting on an open hand. From what I gather, you can legitimately call it a quahog if it covers your palm and you can't close your fist on it. Hard-shell clams are most prevalent between Cape Cod and New Jersey, but the state of RI seems to have a personal sense of pride in being the home of the quahog, and every August they have a Quahog festival to prove it. All this research is only serving to make me a little homesick. In CA I can buy small Manilla clams, which I think are most often used in Clams with Black Bean Sauce, and sometimes ones that are a little bigger and work okay for Linguini a la Vongole, but I think these clams are less flavorful. I've certainly never seen anything here as hunky as a quahog. It goes without saying there are no long-neck steamers here, and that's truly sad.

Yes, thanks. it's the whelk in the UK and here it's known as the Waved Whelk or the Common Whelk, or to Italian-Americans, Scungilli. When I looked at some pix I realize they are indeed common--you see those shells all the time on the beach. It's also clear that you wouldn't mistake one for a land snail on your plate--at least not if it was served in the shell a la escargot. There are lots of species of whelk, some being a foot long like the Lightning Whelk. The elegant tapered point of their shells is what they use to open their entree: clam on the halfshell. Whelk farming is happening in Maine as we speak, and it sounds like they are targeting the Asian market. There must be Whelk with Black Bean Sauce, don't ya think?

I hope the slug trail in this thread gets lost quick. Back to the snails with shells...so far no one has commented on whether or not it's more common to get marine or land snails in France now, and if it depends on whether you are near the coast. From the info on the site below it would appear that land snails started it all in Burgundy, and that they are more commonly eaten now. I have no idea if this site is reliable. (It's interesting what it says about farming out snails to Turkey and Indonesia.) When I'm in France next month (Provence) do you think the snails will be land snails? Are they all referred to as escargot, or do they make a distinction? Should you assume that any time you order snails in a restaurant in this country they will be canned? Last year I had very good tender escargots in a little bistro in Portland OR. In the past I've always found them rubbery and tough. And speaking of marine snails, my Dad figured out how to gross me out beyond measure when I was little. We summered in Hampton Bays (in the 50's) where we spent hours digging clams and shrieking over horseshoe crabs. He used to find marine snails--what he called Scungilli--and he ate them raw, right out of the shell on the spot. http://ckenb.blogspot.com/2007/08/escargots.html

That does sound lovely, even for an overcommitted red person like myself. Clams demand a fair amount of attention. I'm open to the possibility that loving kindness, along with a light touch, might elevate a New England chowder. Having such a companionable host and chef makes it perfect. Before he ships out on the doomed Pequod, Ishmael goes for dinner in town. When asked by the proprietor, "Clam or cod?" he imagines being served a plate with one clam on it. So he orders cod. It's chowder, of course. The first of many surprises.

Clam chowder in restaurants always disappoints me. Usually the clams are, as you say, skimpy, and also cooked far too long. Boston isn't my style--usually it just seems gummy. Great time of year to make your own Manhattan chowder since there are still good tomatoes to be had. I like Jasper White's recipes for clam chowder; he specifies small quahogs or large cherrystones and the clam prep is the same for both Manhattan and Boston. I've made chowder with all kinds of clams (clams here in CA don't seem quite as good.) Surely there's a thread where passionate devotees duke it out over red vs. white. Boston never crossed my parents' radar, so that's how I am. Provincial.

Thanks. And of course I too got the town wrong. It's not in Dayton, it's in Waitsburg.

Great up-to-the-minute details on Walla Walla. I will be making my fourth trip there (daughter in college) and it sounds like there are several new hotspots. We will absolutely try Saffron, since that's a new one, and a trip (or several?) to Cesario is clearly called for. Had no idea. We have not eaten at 26 Brix, so that's a possible 2nd splurge. It sounds like you were so overwhelmed by the Colville Patisserie I'm surprised your pix were in focus. I don't think I can pass that up now. We have eaten at Whitehouse Crawford and I agree it was up an down. I had a steak and it was great. The rest of the food was just over the fussy line for me. I did have the WW fried onion thingy and it was pretty wonderful. I think I had a really good soup too. I like the wine bar/cafe Grapefields. The food is okay, but tables outside on the main drag are great for gawking (of course we're talking Family Weekend so lots of dazed parents and kids looking forward to something other than dorm food) and I like the cranky women who run the place; we sat at the bar one night and just had a few lovely reds--and they poured generous glasses. I am fond of the Walla Walla onion sausage/dog or whatever it's called, that you found bland. I like the little window on the street, and the fact that when it's high noon during the summer you can walk around the corner and sit outside at Starbucks with a Frapucino to go with your dog. I am not a big hot dog or sausage person, but I liked the flavor. I thought the problem was everything else--boring old american bun, not even dijon mustard as an option and no interesting toppings. I think that dog needs better clothes. I loved my taco truck experience and plan to try at least one other wagon. I can't remember which one we went to--maybe one on 6th? The green chile sauce was really good and so was the carne asada. Paying $5 instead of $50 for a pretty high quality meal is not to be minimized! Has anyone eaten in Dayton at the Whoopemup Cafe? Lots of raves about it. Anyway, thanks for thorough reviews!

I will be in Venice for a few days in early Oct. with my husband and my 89 year old mother. I have checked out the restaurant threads and wonder if there are any updates or if anyone has suggestions specific to the Dorsoduro, since we are staying near the Academia bridge. I don't want my mother to have to walk long distances after dinner just to get to a vaporetto stop and then take a long ride. Some of the following sound fabulous to me, but are not all that convenient. Lunch might be another possibility. Are any of them good for lunch? Vini da Gigio Da Alberto Alle Zucca Vecio Fritolin Testiere (Everyone seems to love it) Alla Madonna (that looks moderately convenient) These are close to our hotel but are less-reviewed here: Avogaria, Ai Quattro Ferri. Anyone love them? What about pizza? Il Refolo sounds heartbreakingly good, but is closed in October. Others mention Da Gianni (close to the hotel) Ae Oche (2 of them) and San Toma. Bar food? Cantina del Vino Gia Schiava is close as well. Anyone know that one? I saw a recommendation for Al Prosecco--also somewhat of a trek for her (she loves prosecco!) At least a couple of nights I think we will all be happy to have a drink and cicheti and call it dinner. Personally I am hankering for mostarda....any ideas? Thanks so much in advance. P>S> I was naughty and posted a version of this on a thread that I should not have. Sorry for the duplication.

I will be in Venice for a few days in October with my husband and my 89 year old mother to bury the ashes of her long-time companion. A previously very energetic New Yorker, she is starting to slow down. Our hotel is in the Dorsoduro near the Academia bridge. Our budget for a couple of splurge meals seems to be in the range of Osteria da Alberto. I'm wondering if there are any current updates to the list of places on this thread. Probably we don't want to do a lot of late-night walking with my mother so some place within easy range of a vaporetto stop would be good. Here's what sounds yummy to me: Alberto (more of a walk it looks like..) Alle Zucca (The veggies sound fabulous) Vini de Gigio (not too far from Ca d'Oro stop, but kinda long ride after dinner) Alla Madonna (not a bad walk from San Silvestro?) Alle Testiere (also not close to the Canal) Let me know if I'm off about price on any of these or if any cost substantially more than the others. And what about reservations? How far ahead do I need to call? We would most likely want an earlier seating. Which are open/fun for lunch? Personally I'm very happy with a splurge lunch and a minimal dinner. If Testiere is open for lunch that might be easier to negotiate. My one guide book suggests a few places near our hotel: a restaurant/pizza place called Da Gianni, and two restaurants called La Bitta and Al Quattro Ferri. Ring any bells? Just curious: how does the pizza compare at Ae Oche (two of them?) vs San Toma? Are they equally fun? Are any of them a bit more relaxed? Thanks for any help!

PB & J or PB & Nutella: vertically, so both halves are symmetrical. Egg salad: same, altho not sure, since I haven't made one in a long time. BLT, tuna or grilled cheese: diagonal. Very important to cut through the ingredients on a BLT for the visual. Tuna? I just have to. Grilled cheese: Isn't there a law about this? Turkey: complicated. Either way, depending on the other ingredients. Details would probably reveal to me to be a lunatic. I too feel uncomfortable if the bread slices aren't matched as if they were still on the loaf. And I have never eaten a commercially bought sandwich that I didn't have to rearrange in some way first. My husband's sandwiches are so devil-may-care as to defy logic; they are way beyond rearranging. I will say this, not until I saw this thread did I consider the possibility that I have OCD.

So the spritzing action is at the beginning when you bake bread...interesting. Except for one or two signature staples I'm hopeless when anything involves flour, so I will pass that along. Oh, I read my post and must have been fuzzy from the wine last night. I neglected to note the time for the prebake. Of course everyone's ovens are different, but just for the record: The first pizza dough pre-baked 3 min. The second one we left in for just a minute longer, and that was perfect--just enough time for the dough to actually acquire a surface that would resist moisture. Thanks again to all for suggestions! KM