JimH

I have got to stop checking this thread before lunch, my stomach is growling. Mom wanted ribs for her birthday, so no pictures of them plated. Edited: to make the picture larger.

They have got great sausage. Bought some from a BBQ vendor and that's where he was getting his sausage. It was better than anything I've been able to get locally.

I know huh? those carrots are so beautiful ...I can not wait to see how they turn out! also my peanuts look so cute in the pots I found this online and am trying to keep my mind busy with new projects when not working so I dont over eat so here are my peanut plants and a link for peanuts in a pot that tells how to grown them in a pot ..I hope this works I think I should start a few more the one little one looks kind of pathetic! has anyone ever grown peanuts in pots before? did you get some? I dont care how small a persons living space is you can grown something the lemon grass especially is an awesome house plant in a sunny spot or even under a grow light then outside in the summer if you have a sunny spot..same with ginger ← Thanks for that link, I've been wanting to try peanuts but the book I have said that they could not be planted in containers. I'm going to use beer buckets (big blue tubs about three feet across) to hold the potatoes. I got the idea from Patricia Lanza's book on lasagna gardening. I have some extra soil, so I'll put down newspaper, then the soil and then grass clippings/leaves. As they grow I'll hill them up with additional clippings. So far everything I've tried from her book has worked, even when I didn't have all the ingredients. Spring is here, the lime trees have bloomed and the fig tree is starting to throw it's leaves. I still have to prep the oldest garden for corn and I have yet to clean out the Earth Boxes.

The skin on the pudding is my favorite part! I eat it first before eating the rest of the pudding.

I wish I was that organized. I'm trying potatoes for the first time this year (if they ever arrive) and Egyptian Walking Onions.

ETA: What about the great Norwegian Blue famine?

Lauren, thank you for your reply. I enjoy mushrooms and now I know I can eat more than just the button mushrooms raw.

A crawfish boil washed down with a healthy amount of Stone IPA.

No Problem, of the time I've lived in Texas most of it was in Houston. Parts of the film were shot right down the road.

After giving it some thought I might have one not-quite-a-neurosis. I won't order chicken/tuna/egg salad sandwiches from any restaurant. While taking my food service manager's class years ago they explained that most of the complaints of food bourne illness were a result of off temperature ______salad sandwiches. Having already poisoned myself once, I just decided not to take the chance.

Rachel, the description alone almost turned me into a vegetarian. It made Spam seem appetizing (with apologies to Hawaiians, Pythons & those who enjoy Spam).

I'm confused, why not? Those immobile concrete pits are operated like offset pits, heat & smoke flow from one end, over the meat, to the other. Cooking time & temperature would be the same for both. The biggest difference between the two would be the seasoning & saucing. CT BBQ does not rely heavily on either but could still be judged (favorably) on appearence, texture, taste etc.

Elie, thanks for the reply. "Cooking Inside the House Season" is coming to a close and I wanted to make this before it ends. Thanks, Jim

When I've come across it in a recipe, it tells you to use a spoon. You're right, I hadn't thought of how the gills would look if they detachted from the cap. OK, I can see how the gills bleeding color when cooked could be unappetizing. The cooking warning I'm thinking of was in my Fungi Perfecti catalog. They sell mushroom spore and they advise you to cook any mushroom before consuming it. I guess they might advise that just for liability reasons. I've never experienced any bitterness either they taste like steak. I'll have to try blue cheese on it next time. OK, now I'm hungry. Thanks for the replies, since sauce gets mentioned quite a bit does anyone have a recipe they would like to share?

I was just over visiting our new sponsor browsing Portabello recipes. I've had people tell me that you have to remove the gills from under the cap before you do anything with them. I usually just rub them with olive oil and fresh garlic then grill them over high heat for a few minutes leaving the gills on. The recipes on on the sponsor's page don't say anything about removing the gills. One other thing, I enjoy slicing button mushrooms for salads but I've seen warnings about eating uncooked mushrooms. Since I have not yet experienced a problem what are the rules, if there are any? I tried to do a search but I'm on day one of using contacts and my eyes are nuked.

Toliver, there should be a special place in Dante's Inferno for their creators.

Get a good book on gardening. The one I use the most is called the Garden Problem Solver: Vegetables, Fruits and Herbs by Jeff Ball. Click it Good detail on plant diseases & pests.

Sirloin tip roast. I rub it with salt and freshly cracked black pepper the night before and cook it at 250 until it reaches an internal of 130. It has a very good beef flavor.

Oh well, more ribs for the rest of us.

Great topic! What was your family food culture when you were growing up? Mom cooked most meals with grilling responsibilities falling to dad. Most of what I remember clearly is from the '70's on. Mom cooked mostly Irish American meals with some Italian thrown in to keep dad happy. The Great Stew Uprising of '69 had not yet become a passing memory when the dreaded Casserole Invasion of the '70's started. While most of these so called "casseroles" were edible there was one that assaulted my senses, leaving a mark in my memory as clear as any scar on my skin. Now, imagine if you will being a boy of 8 or 9 whose idea of dinner is potato/vegetable/meat (fish sticks on Fridays). Fish sticks were my idea of fish, canned tuna with onion and celery was for sandwiches. It never occured to me that someone somewhere would take canned tuna and heat it. I think I've blocked out the first time mom made it, the shear horror of the smell too much for my young mind. It was that second time, walking home in the snow, downwind from our house, the odor of hot tuna horror strong on the wind, knowing there was no escape. I think dad took pitty on me or perhaps it was the first time he was there to bear witness to this abomination but it was the last time Tuna Casserole was ever served in our house. Even in later years, when things were tough and I had money for not much more than rice and Tiger Sauce you could not get me to eat Tuna Casserole. That said, mom was a good cook but your failures always stick out like a sore thumb, with apologies to anyone who actually enjoys Tuna Casserole. Was meal time important? Yes, hands washed, chairs pulled up to the table, napkins used and "please" came before every request. Conversation about your day was expected, radio or TV turned off. Was cooking important? Yes, mom cooked a new meal for each dinner. She liked to experiment but most of it was her family's "staple" meals. What were the penalties for putting elbows on the table? No penalty really just a reminder that it's not allowed. Who cooked in the family? Mom cooked every meal, dad grilled the meat in the Summer (on a Hibachi when I was little) Were restaurant meals common, or for special occassions? Special occasions, Christmas Eve at a restaurant on the Jersey side of the Byrn Mawr bridge. Did children have a "kiddy table" when guests were over? Yes but it was considered "overflow", if there was room at the big table openings were assigned by seniority, it upset my sister to no end. When did you get that first sip of wine? Not wine but Cold Duck with my dad at one of his childhood friend's liquor store, I was 8 or 9. I think it had something to do with their raiding my great grandfathers homemade wine when they were my age. I still have a warm spot in my heart for Cold Duck. Was there a pre-meal prayer? During holidays and with company always. Neither of my parents were vying for the position of Pope and I am carrying on the family tradtion. Was there a rotating menu (e.g., meatloaf every Thursday)? Not that I can recall, outside of fishstick Fridays, it was up to mom's whim. How much of your family culture is being replicated in your present-day family life? I fell far from mom's tree. Mom taught me how to read a recipe but she rarely used one for most of her dishes. I'm starting to incorporate some of the things she makes by watching, meatloaf being the most recent. Table manners, even when I'm by myself, are still important. I cook enough so I can have leftovers, something that rarely occured when I was young. Mom cooked dinner each night no warmed-up leftovers that I can remember. Tuna gets no warmer than room temperature and stays in it's can until the onion & celery are diced. I've never had the desire to make a casserole. ETA: a missing question ans answer.

It looks like the bun is trying to spit the fillet out.

Er... how do you eat asian food? ← Just like everyone else, I don't mind mixing it all together. I think I do it because there was never a common thread between each item at dinner. It was a matter of slogging through the meal. Baked potato, microwaved vegetable, then chicken, pork or roast beef. Irish American cooking isn't all that exciting, well there was the great "no more stew" uprising of 1969 but that's another story.

Popeye's batter dipped fries are good.

Number 9 didn't look all that bad.

Thanks Chris, I think you're right I'll have to grab an avocado on the way home.